Knight-Captain of Arian
by KSLCross
Summary: Experience a new and expanded world of Gundam Build Fighters alongside Kas-Al Biaggi, Knight-Captain of Arian and Aria von Reiji Asuna's personal guard as he delves into the world of Gunpla and resolves to find the mysteries of the Plavisky Particles! (Canon Characters with OCs and Expanded 7th Gunpla Battle World Tournament)
1. Repaying Debts

AN: So hi! Anyone that knows me for my other works, know that my RWBY fanfic's chapter 19 is 3400 words in and almost done, but I have to get these words out too. LOVE and I mean LOVE Gundam Build Fighters. So much that I've built 8 of them since watching this series and wanted to put this story idea up.

A different twist to the norm where the OC is from our world.

Now it's from Arian.

At the very least it'll be different.

Favorite, review, share, check out my youtube channel, enjoy!

KSLCross commands you!

Begin

"Well ain't this cool? Look at all of this stuff!"

A red haired teen walked around the room with a smile, a pair of shades in his hair to hold back his wild locks. Dressed in a long sleeved shirt with puffy shoulders held in place by silver armbands on his biceps, creamy white slacks, and a red vest with a strange collar that looked as if scissors had taken some liberal pleasures with the cloth, he pushed aside relics of countless fortunes aside nonchalantly as he looked about.

A short teen with black hair followed him with a sigh, putting the treasures back into place the best he could, knowing full well that the redhead would likely knock about the same treasures again on his way back out of the room.

"Kas! Come on! Over here!"

The short teen sighed again as he scratched his head.

The king would have his head if Reiji broke anything in here.

"Coming, my liege."

"Just hurry!"

Grumbling to himself at the childishness of the crown prince of Arian, he came to the origin of the excited voice and pulled back a large ornate tapestry that the redhead had already walked past.

The shorter teen stared at what the redhead had found.

"What is this?" he asked befuddled.

A large crystal floated in the air, surrounded by smaller, but quite large crystals of the same type.

"Isn't this awesome?!" Reiji laughed as he picked up a gilded metal wristband with a small stone in it, made of the same crystal blue substance that was floating in the air.

"...My liege, I don't think we should be in here."

The black haired teen, dressed in loose pants of a navy cotton that tucked into and accented his leather boots and a black vest under a silvery armored trenchcoat that opened up from his navel down, could only stare in awe at the sight before him.

Fay Tears, one of the many names of the precious material that laid before him, had the power to change and affect the material world, having the ability to create anything imaginable or bringing life and power to inanimate objects.

Also able to react to the emotions and desires of those around it, it was both volatile and powerful.

These crystals were one of the most treasured relics of the world, and the reason for the small kingdom of Arian's prosperity that went beyond that of even the greatest empires in the surrounding lands, was revealed in from of his eyes.

"My liege, do you know what this is?"

"Hmm? They're cool rocks, right?" the prince put the wristband on as he admired the perfect fit. "Man we find something new everytime we come in here."

He picked up ring with a lion crest, the feline holding a Fay Tear in it's mouth in the shape of a small blade.

Reiji smirked as he tossed the priceless ring leisurely at his guard and friend.

"Well, you're finally and officially under my personal authority, right? This will do well enough for a badge of office. Serve me well, Kas-Al."

Kas-Al caught the ring out of the air and bowed deeply.

"I… Thank you. As your Knight-Captain I will serve you to the best of my abilities!"

"Oi, oi, no need for anything that crazy." Reiji laughed as he waved off the formalities, "We've been friends since I was five, right?"

At that moment the Fay Tears began to glow with a golden orange light and the two would leave Arian for the first time.

It was an alien experience to say the least.

The two had landed in a completely different world, in a small principality or kingdom of sort named Nippon or Japan. People seemed to use the two interchangeably, which was a source of great confusion for the two teens of Arian.

However, the peering skyscrapers, the many new sounds and smells, and especially the food, had drawn the two to the new world again and again.

Though Kas had quickly found out that the currency of their world didn't work here, he had come across some place known as a 'pawn shop' that would buy what you own in exchange for money. Pedding some of the useless gold ornaments granted to those of his station, as he had little care for such trifles, the black hair teen had acquired funds for their travels.

Still, Reiji had the tendency to walk off on his own, sometimes even disappearing without a trace from his assistant's watchful eye. That and he had no care or sense of money, having been not only royalty, but the crown prince of the most wealthy and powerful kingdom of his world.

And that's how Kas-Al found Reiji arguing with a moustached baker over a half-eaten fried pastry in one of those strange wrappings called 'plastic'.

As he was about to butt into the argument and settle the issue with one of the many slips of cloth-paper that the people of that world called currency, a blue haired teen around the prince's age came to his rescue with great kindheartedness.

"Well, what do you know?" the knight-captain smiled. "My selfish liege can make friends, too, huh?"

"Thank you for helping my friend, kind fellow." Kas-Al smiled as he walked up to the duo. "He seems to have the habit of disappearing on me at the worst of times."

"Kas? I thought you were right behind me." Reiji blinked in surprise. "Where were you?"

"Apparently not right behind you." Kas-Al sighed as he bowed to the helpful blue haired teen. "I thank you for your help once more and apologize for the inconvenience."

"Oh, not a problem. You're foreigners, right? Neither of you look japanese. Especially, ah, I didn't get your name."

"Reiji." the prince smiled as she pointed at himself with his thumb. "And this is my friend Kas-Al. You can call him Kas."

"As he said." Kas bowed again.

"Please enough with the bowing! I'm Iori Sei. It's nice to meet you." the flustered teen smiled.

Sei bought the two of them a drink, even though Kas-Al had stated that he had money and such a thing was not necessary.

"Whoa! What is this? It feels all fuzzy in my mouth, like it's boiling, but it's cold!"

"A potion?" Kas questioned.

"You've never had soda before?" Sei questioned.

"Man, this sure tastes good though." Reiji grinned as he downed the drink happily.

Kas sipped at his cola before eyes widening and chugging his down as well before the bubbling began to sear his throat in a strange, cold manner. He coughed as his eyes teared a little.

"What a surprisingly dangerous drink." Kas muttered as Sei couldn't help laughing.

Still after the novelty of the new beverage had worn off, Reiji apologized to Sei, knowing that he had indeed caused problems without prompting from his protector, much to the knight's joy. It was always nice seeing your charge grow and mature, after all.

"It's not your fault." Sei smiled, "You're not from Japan, so you just don't know how things work around here, right? We should help others when they're in need."

Reiji stood up from the park bench the three sat upon with quiet contemplation before turning to Sei with a serious look.

"I'll pay you back for this. That's a promise."

"You don't have to worry about that." Sei said. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Nope. I can't do that. It's a matter of family dignity. Our honor would be tarnished if I don't repay you."

"Indeed." Kas-Al nodded seriously.

Sei smiled a bit nervously.

It sure sounded really exaggerated to him. That was really old fashioned thinking, especially for foreigners to have.

Reiji pulled a small Fay Tear out of his pocket and handed it to Sei, much to Kas-Al's surprise.

"I'll give you this."

Sei's eyes widened.

"What's that? A gem!? No way, I can't take something that expensive!"

Reiji rolled his eyes as Kas-Al silently face-palmed inside of his mind.

"It's just a rock, don't make such a big deal out of it."

Sei just made a confused noise as he held the stone in his hand.

Reiji laughed as he picked up his now empty bottle of soda.

"If you're ever in trouble, just make a wish on that rock. At any time, regardless of the situation, I'll come running to help. I'll handle any trouble you need help with. That's a promise. I swear it."

He tossed the bottle into a container filled with other bottles of assorted colors and types, all of them empty. Probably there for such a purpose, so it was safe to assume.

"That's awesome. You're like a superhero or something." Sei laughed before looking up.

The two were gone as if they'd never been there in the first place.

"Huh? Where'd he go?" Sei muttered to himself.

Iori Sei didn't know that this was the meeting and the promise that would change his life forever.

The next day as Iori Sei sat in class as he pondered over how silly the promise and the rock and later finished building his Build Strike, Kas-Al stared at Fay Tears as Reiji fiddled with a blade, swinging the sword with all the skill and grace gained from his training.

The crown prince of Arian was blessed with both fortune and talent beyond that of normal people. Few even in the Royal Guard of Arian could best the crown prince in pure combat and fewer could claim that they were truly superior to the prince in battle.

Kas-Al parried a thrust and disarmed Reiji with a palm strike to his wrist and flipped him over with a quick yank of his collar and a sweeping leg.

Though smaller in stature despite the fact that he was seventeen, three years Reiji's senior, Kas-Al was definitely one of the latter. Hence the king's reasoning to have Kas-Al become the prince's bodyguard and personal knight despite his youth.

Besides, the serious boy kept the redhead in line better than anybody else in the palace staff.

"Man, I can't catch you off guard at all, huh?" Reiji laughed as he got up, dusting himself off. "You're still too good."

Truth be told, Kas-Al saw this coming the moment Reiji picked up the blade.

The prince always did enjoy testing his own limits.

At that moment the Fay Tears glowed again, but the brightest was Reiji's.

_I can't get away…_

"This is…"

Reiji had a serious look on his face.

_What would dad do?... I'm… I'm going to lose again. Even though I haven't been able to do anything yet…_

"Let's go! Kas-Al!"

"My liege!"

We were once again engulfed in light.

_I don't want to lose._

We heard as our bodies flew like arrows through blank white space, black flecks of darkness flickering as we sped past them with great speeds.

We had to make this.

For Sei who was kind enough to reach out out of kindness.

And the honor of House Asuna of Arian!

_I don't want to lose anymore!_

"Darn it!"

"Don't give up!" Reiji reached over and put his hand over Sei's on some sort of yellow orb that was obviously a control for a strange metal, human-like figure on some bright stage showing endless rows of trees with flowers in full bloom. "And go forward!"

He pushed and the strange metal human flew with the force of a waterfall, plowing into a different figure in purple.

Toys?

Or something else?

And this light…

"Fay Tears?..." Kas-Al muttered to himself from his position. He had ended up materializing behind an older man and woman who were watching the strange spectacle.

"What?" a brown haired boy with a bowl cut gasped at the sudden force.

He was the one controlling the purple gunpla.

A custom version of a Gyan.

Though Reiji and Kas-Al had no idea what gunpla was. However, Sei had been right. You should lend your hand to those in need. And they owed him a favor.

It was time to pay their dues.

"Reiji. You…" Sei gasped in confusion and surprise.

Luckily for the Arian boys no one had noticed their appearance due to the dramatic moment of Sei's near loss.

"You made a wish, right? That's why I came." the prince grinned as he held up his wristband.

Sei pulled the Fay Tear out of his pocket to find it glowing a golden orange, too small to be seen to untrained eyes, especially as he only cupped it right outside his pocket.

The gunpla maniac was snapped out of his confusion as Reiji put a hand on his shoulder.

"Sei, I'm going to keep my promise to you now. I'll fight in your place."

"Eh!?" Sei's confusion got worse and worse. "But you've never done this before, right?"

"Leave it to me!" Reiji grinned as he moved the control orbs about, pressing each of the buttons to see exactly what they did, making the Build Strike dance about in place waving its limbs about like a madman.

However, Reiji was checking the limits of the gunpla's movements as well as the speed at which it reacted to a command.

It was still a funny dance.

"What are you doing with my gunpla?!" Sei cried out in concern for his masterpiece as Reiji ignored him getting a feel for the controls.

"Gunpla…" the short knight whispered to himself, catching the attention of the man next to him.

"Hmmm? Have you never seen a gunpla battle, boy?"

Kas-Al looked up at the tall man dressed in a blue suit with a pink dress shirt and grey knitted sweater vest. Though obviously a civilian, he had the same aura as the war-veteran paladin that he had once been apprentice under.

"No, I have not. But it interests me."

It did indeed interest him. To think, a this world had its own version of Fay Tears and to use it simply for toys.

Did they not know just how much war potential or medical purposes that the Fay Tears could fill?

This was a power that could bring down whole kingdoms in days.

"Hoh." Mr. Ral smiled.

It was always a good day to teach people the joys of gunpla battle and gunpla in general.

The man quickly guided the knight away to teach him about some of the history of gunpla and gundam wars. Kas-Al listened politely and attentively, as all knowledge had its own use in the world.

Knowing next to nothing about the culture of this one could be a huge detriment to blending in with the indigenous people.

"Excuse me. Are you two Sei's friends?" the woman asked with a smile.

She was slim, with a motherly aura, and the same blue hair as Sei.

Definitely his mother, but not the wife of the tall man with the moustache, Kas decided, seeing as how the two males shared very few features.

"Yes. You could say we are. We are here to repay a debt. Worry not for your son. My liege will not lose to a lesser man."

Iori Rinko could only blink in light confusion and smile.

The short boy with the cosplay outfit did say that they were here to help her son, after all.

As Ral and Kas-Al stood on the other side of the store, inside the gunpla battle room, a different atmosphere was present as the pilot of the Gyan, Suzuma Sazaki only grit his teeth in cold fury.

"I can't believe it, Sei-kun. You're letting an amateur use your machine?"

What he had been trying so hard to do, some random amateur could just take so easily?

He couldn't forgive him.

"That… that gunpla… WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MINE!"

The Gyan shot forward, swinging its yellow beam saber, only to find that the Build Strike had leaned forward and under the blade before turning about and sending the purple gunpla spinning with a roundhouse kick, the blow taking it to the ground.

"Yosh! I get the idea!" Reiji grinned fiercely, oblivious as to the shock received by his high-level maneuver.

Even with Plavisky Particles supplementing and making movements possible, kicks made on the ground were still rather difficult due to balancing issues as well as keeping the machine steady enough to aim properly.

The Build Strike's eye cams glinted in neon green as the Gyan got up and went for another attack.

"Don't mess with me!" Sazaki cried out.

The Build Strike side-stepped out of the way of two jabs before the Gyan went for a low sweep to disable the legs, only for Reiji to have the Build Strike leap over the blade and strike with another kick from behind, almost sending the Gyan to the ground again and leaving small cracks in the backpack.

Sazaki growled as he turned the Gyan around and tried to pierce through the Build Strike's headcam, only to be disarmed by the same palm-strike to wrist disarming method that his friend had used on him just moments ago.

Kas-Al grinned to himself as he saw the movement out of the corner of his eye.

Perhaps this could be a good training method for his charge.

Ral took this as a sign to continue rambling, now teaching about the storyline of the Gundam Unicorn, which actually managed to garner Kas-Al's interest.

Sazaki 'tsk'ed in irritation as he flew for his dropped rifle and shield.

"I won't accept this… such a thing like this… I absolutely won't accept it!"

He fired off his missile shield, releasing all 56 needle missiles at once, only for Reiji to cease pursuit and dash to the side to avoid the projectiles, which had been fired against too long of a distance out of panic for it to be effective.

"Do you have any weapons on this?" Reiji turned to the still shocked Sei.

"Open the third weapon slot. There's a beam saber!"

"Got it!" Reiji grinned as the Build Strike's side skirt mounted beam saber turned about and ejected forward just enough for the gunpla to grasp it and pull it out in a flash of pink.

The redheaded prince dodged the yellow beams of energy shot from the Gyan's beam rifle with the smooth poise and elegance of a noble prince of the House of Asuna.

Sei gazed in wonder at the movements.

"Those moves, that piloting… just like… tou-san… This… this is what I've been looking for. My ideal… my gunpla!"

Sazaki broke out in cold sweat as he emptied his entire twenty round clip and saw none of his shots even graze his target.

"What? Who… who are you?!"

"That's not important! What's important is that you're finished now!"

The Build Strike's eye cams lit up as it left a streak of light in the air, the gunpla dashing with such a burst of speed that the beam saber cut through the Gyan with little to no resistance, a single blow separating the machine into four pieces as the arm got in the way of the blade.

Reiji grinned as he flew the gunpla away and landed on a nearby cliff to turn and see his handiwork as a plume of fire and smoke flew into the air.

He always did have a preference for flashy explosions.

There was a 'bing' sound as a holographic announcement popped up in the sky with a robotic voice stating "Battle Ended."

"It won… my gunpla."

"I lost? Are you serious?" Sazaki bemoaned as he collapsed to his knees, gripping the edge of the PPSE Gunpla Battle system.

Ral, who had been glancing over at the battle as he taught Kas-Al about gunpla and the gundam universe, congratulated Sei on his victory, clearly impressed at what he had seen.

"That was a great match, you should be proud."

"Congratulations, Sei!" Rinko glowed as she smiled at her son, who was both happy and still a little shell-shocked by his victory.

"It wasn't me." he shook his head with a smile, "My gunpla won because of… huh? Where did he go?"

Sei quickly grabbed his GP base and dashed out of the store with a shout of "Reiji!"

Not knowing that he was with Kas-Al, still inside the store, simply out of sight behind shelves of gunpla boxes.

"...Sei seems like a good person, but he has no spacial awareness." Kas-Al muttered as he browsed the gunpla.

"Oi, Kas. What're you looking at?" Reiji asked.

"Gunpla. That's the small object you were controlling. It appears that they have some sort of cultural influence on this world. I'd like to understand it better so that we can blend in and go about this world without standing out too much." Kas-Al responded, tugging at a strap of leather and readjusting his pauldrons and breastplate.

"Oh, so that's what gunpla is. They kept saying gunpla, gunpla, but I had no idea what they were talking about."

"That's because you only hear and see what you wish to hear and see, my liege."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing of real importance. Excuse me, these gunpla. You build it yourself with the contents within the boxes, correct?"

"Yes, you do." Iori Rinko replied as she turned to the short teen, marveling at how real his cosplay outfit seemed to be, though nothing Gundam as far as she knew. "If you'd like you may borrow the tools here. I think Sei should realize soon that Reiji-kun is still here and come back after a while. Why don't you have one for free, for what your friend did for Sei-kun."

"That's something I cannot accept. We came to repay a debt and we did so. There is no payment needed for fulfilling our duty. I also have sufficient funds to buy these gupla."

"Gunpla." the shopkeeper smiled. "Then at the very least the two of you should stay for dinner. I'll show you the toolroom and how to use everything… uhm, I don't believe I got your name."

Kas-Al blinked before nodding.

"That is acceptable. I graciously accept your generous hospitality. I am Kas-Al Biaggi. A pleasure, milady. This is my liege and charge, Aria von Reiji Asuna." Kas bowed as he announced Reiji's title-name before Iori Rinko, the laid-back prince just giving a smile as he thought about the new food that he would get to eat today.

And all for playing with some sort of toy!

"Ara~" Rinko laughed, the short one was such a serious cosplayer. It reminded her of her childhood as she had been a bit of chuunibuyo (a person suffering from something know as 'eighth grader syndrome') herself before falling for her husband Iori Takeshi, where she cleaned up a bit and fantasized less. "What is the gunpla that you wanted to buy?"

"Ral-dono has informed me of the story of the Gundam Unicorn. I believe that I know what suits me best choosing from the fighters of that story."

Kas-Al pulled a red box from the shelf.

"HGUC MSN-06S Sinanju."

"Ho? That's an ambitious choice, Kas-Al-kun." Ral gazed at the gunpla. "The Sinanju is rather difficult to build well as a beginner. And although it's certainly a powerful machine, it's difficult to control even at the most basic straight-build and requires much finesse and skill. And it's fine simply to call me Ral-tai (Lieutenant Ral), dono might be a little heavy for me."

Kas-Al blinked.

A lieutenant. So he was a military man after all. It would be best not to reveal too much of his physical combative abilities as to not arouse suspicion then.

"Yes, Ral-tai. I will make note of such."

"Huh, so you're really going to look into this gunpla stuff, Kas?"

"Affirmative. I also hold the belief that you will find interest as well, so I will take initiative where I must. I was also set in my position become your rival in all things."

"Man you need to loosen up, Kas." Reiji groaned. "Besides they're just toys. Getting all serious about it sounds kind of silly. Still, for you to take interest in it makes it interesting enough, but still…"

Kas-Al paid for the gunpla kit as he thought to himself.

The fact that the Fay Tears were able to take them to this world in the first place should have been impossible without a large enough Fay Tear to react to it. The fact that they didn't appear by one revealed that it's presence was muffled by something, then to find that small amounts of diluted, yet raw Fay Tears were prevalent in a system for combat revolving around theoretical machines in stories told for entertainment to make such battles come to life?

There was something deeper behind gunpla that simply must not have been prevalently obvious to the naked eye. As a Knight-Captain of the Royal Arian Guard, it was his duty to assess potential security threats to the country as well as his liege.

And Kas-Al was always working, always serious, and never half-assed.

He would find the secret behind this 'Plavisky Particle' that Ral-tai had told him of which seemed to be this world's Fay Tears, and he would make sure that it would never threaten Arian. No matter what.

It was his duty, after all.

…

After this second helping of this delicious vegetable stir-fry.

And a third.

A fourth.

HOW ARE SIMPLE VEGETABLES SO DELICIOUS?!

End

AN2: Yeah, so I wanted to get this on paper, data? Whatever lols


	2. Near Collision of Crimson Comets

AN: Every time I type Build Strike, I add a Star before it without thinking then have to backspace like an idiot, I swear.

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Begin

"How is this, Ral-tai?"

"Oooh. Impressive for your first gunpla." Ral smiled warmly at the black haired teen. "It's built well. Very well in fact. The color scheme hasn't varied, but it's repainted with a metallic color to give it more of a realistic look. Rather than stickers you painted the parts that were supposed to be gold with actual paint without touching the black. Not only that, but you fixed a design issue. The HGUC Sinanju had some issues with the arms not straightening all the way by how the elbow joints themselves are designed, but you resolved that yourself without needed guidance or suggestion. I see you've lined in the panels as well."

"I noticed as I built the arms that they did not extend all the way for some unknown reason. I did not like this, so I made tweaks on my own until it worked properly. And I implemented the 'panel washing' method that Sei-dono informed me of last night. It appears that my charge has caused him to become extremely frustrated. Him teaching me about how to build and paint these gunpla helped cheer him up, however."

Ral's eyes widened.

Panel washing? It was rather high level for someone new to gunpla. Although having access to the airbrush and paints of Iori's Hobby Shop for a small fee had made such a thing possible, the fact that Kas-Al had also gone as far as to paint his gunpla was incredible.

To think that a boy out of no where had such potential from the beginning.

It got Ral rather excited to test out Kas-Al's abilities for himself.

"I was greatly impressed by this easy painting tool, though it made a lot of noise. I was more used to using a paintbrush, so this 'airbrush' took a second to familiarize with. Painting the small details with a brush was much simpler in comparison. However why would you make all these tiny protrusions to be painted? Some seemed near impossible. I managed to figure out how to in the end." Kas-Al said as he wiped his hand off with something called a 'sanitary wipe' before putting the tools away in the proper place and throwing the pieces of cut plastic away.

"Did you stay up all night to make this?" Ral inquired.

"I dislike leaving anything half-finished. I simply memorized every part and their reference number before painting them over in a more metallic red and black. I could not figure out how those stickers worked much to my shame."

Ral's eyes widened. It would be incredible for anyone to be able to keep track of all the small pieces that went into a gunpla.

"No, no. It's much better and more skillful to paint the details rather than to use the stickers provided. The care and focus you put into building a gunpla is what gives it its strength. Modifications, customizations, and the like make it stronger."

Kas-Al blinked.

"So the Plavsky Particles react stronger to something with more of an emotional commitment and attachment as well as the quality of the original golem. It must be Fay Tears for certain. But how?..." the knight muttered softly. "To create a system such as this would require a rather large Fay Tear, but Arian is the only kingdom with Fay Tears of high enough quality to achieve such a thing…"

"Is there something wrong, Kas-Al-kun?" Ral asked as he saw the worried look on his face. "Perhaps you should have gotten some rest instead of finishing your Sinaju."

"It's of no consequence. As a Knight it is expected to be able to go for three days at full combat efficiency without sleep. Has Sei-dono or Reiji woken up yet?"

Ral chuckled.

"I came by early to drop of something for Rinko-san. An order got mixed up at the post office, but she's making breakfast so she couldn't leave the house. They should be up soon." Ral pulled a box out of his pocket.

"Here. I got this for you to commemorate your first gunpla. I meant to give it to you after you finished your Sinanju, but I didn't think it would take you such little time. Still, you need a GP Base for Gunpla Battle, so here you are."

Kas-Al accepted the gift with wide eyes.

The people of this world were capable of great kindness indeed.

"Thank you very much. It is most gracious of you."

"I'll help you set up the GP Base before I leave. For now we should go have breakfast. Rinko-san was worried that you didn't come in to sleep."

"There was no need to worry. I would not let an assailant get the better of me."

"I'm not sure that's why she was worrying, Kas-Al-kun."

They walked into the back of the store, which was the living room area of the house. Being a back alley store, it seemed that they had a house renovated to be able to become a store rather than renovating a store to also being a house.

"Ah, Kas-kun. Did you come in to sleep last night?"

"No, but it was not a problem. Please do not worry."

Ral and Kas-Al sat down at the dining table as Rinko handed the two breakfast sandwiches on a plate.

Ral thanked her for the food happily as Sei walked into the room dressed in the Seiho school uniform.

"Good morning, kaa-san." the blue haired teen sleepily and grumpily trudged to his seat at the table. "Good morning, Ral-san. Why are you here?"

"I ran an errand for your mother. And Kas-Al finished his Sinanju over-night so I wanted to see how it came out."

That perked the aspiring builder right up.

"Already? Wow! Let me see!"

Kas-Al leaned back in surprise as Sei's eyes sparkled in excitement.

"I don't see why not. However we should have breakfast first."

Sei nodded as he bit into his sandwich with gusto.

"Good morning Sei. Where's Reiji-kun?"

That got Sei all grumpy again.

"I tried waking him up this morning, but he just told be to be quiet and kicked me before going back to sleep."

Kas-Al felt a sweat drop roll down the back of his neck. That was Reiji alright.

"I apologize for my liege's actions, Sei-dono. He is most unagreeable when he wakes."

"You can say that again." Sei sighed as he took another bite. "It's not like it's your fault though and you don't have to call me that."

"He is a bit of a strange child, isn't he?" Rinko giggled as she pat Sei's head, to the boy's mild annoyance. "I don't think he's a bad person though."

"Reiji hasn't been able to interact with too many people. My apologies, Sei-dono. He has a tendency to be too frank or too true to his own feelings. While this can be a good thing, he has the habit of treading over too many toes. And I'm afraid that I must show you the proper respect for allowing us residency at your house last night. It was truly an act of true kindness."

"It's really not that big of a deal!" Sei blushed as he tried to find a way to have his new friend not be so stiff with him. "Just Sei is fine, really. Why don't you just finish your sandwich and I'll take a look at your Sinanju."

The knight nodded, not at all convinced to refer to as Sei as he desired.

"Affirmative."

Some large and quick bites later Kas-Al had to sit through Sei marveling over how well the Sinanju had come out for a first time build in the crafting room. The builder just lamented that Reiji couldn't be as interested in gunpla as his friend Kas-Al was. Though he was still curious as to why he was wearing pieces of actual metal armor, Sei thought it better not to pry.

"One question. How is the Sinanju supposed to house the two swords of light?" Kas-Al asked.

"Well in the actual Gundam Unicorn series the Sinanju housed the beam sabers in the forearms which could open up and release the beam sabers into the hand. But the High Grade version isn't as intricate as the Master Grade, so you'll have to find some other way if you really want to have it. But the shield already has the beam axes, so you don't really need it too badly."

"Is that so?" Kas-Al responded as he quietly took in the information. "To lack such simple to store and useful weapons seems such a waste. I'll find a way later."

"I can't wait to see it! I'd love to help, but I have to head to school, so I'll see you later." Sei smiled before waving as he left.

He stopped before pulling out a small leather box from under a table by the airbrush paint shelves.

"Here, you can store the Sinanju in this. It's made for carrying around bigger gunpla that won't fit in the normal sizes."

Though Kas-Al was getting more and more unnerved by receiving all these sudden free things, he quietly accepted with a smile.

"Ok, I really should go before I'm late. I'll see you later!"

Kas-Al waved Sei away before turning to his Sinanju.

"Well, I'm sure this might be cheating. However, I need to find out how Fay Tears got into this world." the silver knight raised his ring, the sword-shaped crystal glowing and spreading blue particles of light into the air before melting into the gunpla.

Not too long later, Reiji had woken up with a loud groan, not noticing that his own Fay Tear was glowing lightly, but it died down as he headed down the stairs.

"G'morning." he yawned. "Hmm? Where's Kas and Sei?"

"Ha ha, you were certainly sleeping well, weren't you? Kas-kun is in the work room with his gunpla. Ral-san just went after him to help him set up the GP Base. Sei's off at school."

"Huh? School? What's that?"

Rinko was surprised that Reiji didn't seem to know what school was, but shrugged it off, as Reiji seemed to still be rather sleepy.

"School's where all the kids around Sei's age goes to study. Wake up, silly Reiji-kun. Is bread ok for breakfast?"

"Anything's fine. Thanks for letting me and Kas stay the night. We'll repay you by helping out at your store." the redhead yawned again as Rinko thanked the boy happily, glad to have a little company, seeing as how it was somewhat unlikely they were going to have too much business in the middle of the day on a weekday.

The work day proved to be slightly busier than anticipated as an elderly couple came by looking for a gift for their grandchild and a young mother looking to buy a gunpla for her son's birthday in two weeks.

Still, to Reiji it felt bone dry.

"Only three customers. This is so boring. To come all the way to this world for this…" Reiji sighed.

"Be grateful for the small pleasures. If you so desire, why not visit Sei-dono at this school place? I believe that I am more than enough help that the store needs at the moment. I will remind you to be careful in my absence, as you are the crown prince-"

"Ok, ok." Reiji waved off Kas-Al, "I know. Come by later to say hi if you can. I'll head out then."

"As you wish."

Though a little miffed that Reiji had gone off without asking, Rinko was a little miffed, but having had Kas-Al was really more than enough, as unlike Reiji that wasn't used to cleaning and tending to customers and the like, Kas-Al wasn't a nobleman and so was fine dealing with jobs and tasks normally handed to those of lower class.

After watching the empty shop, cleaning the shelves, dusting off boxes and wiping the windows clean, Rinko thanked the short teen for his help.

As a reward for such a good job, she gave him directions to Seiho academy, the place where Sei went to school, which although like Reiji, he could have tracked using the Fay Tear, though Reiji seemed to react to the Tears instinctively, having directions was certainly simpler. And as school should have let out, Kas-Al headed out to meet the teens on the walk back, only to find that rather than going home, many students seemed to be flocking to an auditorium of sorts.

Knowing Reiji and his ability to attract attention and trouble, Kas-Al just breathed deeply through his nostrils before following the other students in to find Reiji and Sei facing off against a gorilla in clothing.

Kas-Al blinked.

On closer inspection it was a human after all.

The people of that world were strange indeed.

The bulky gold gunpla that the two were fighting released it's powerful hand beam gun, a gray of green tearing into the ground as it rose up to meet the Build Strike.

"There's no way that he'll hit Reiji with something so boorish." Kas-Al muttered.

"Oh. Kas-Al-kun. Did you come to see Reiji and Sei fight?"

Kas-Al turned to see Ral and a prim looking girl with glasses.

Younger yet still taller than him, the knight noted inwardly with a grimace.

"Something akin to that effect. I knew that he'd find himself tied in with Gunpla Battle already, however this was beyond my expectations. I did not even have the time to test out my Sinanju to become a good training partner. A shame, but not totally unexpected, I suppose. Reiji has always surprised me since we were children."

"You know those two?" the girl asked curiously.

"I serve Reiji of House Asuna and Sei-dono has been kind enough to lend us a hand while we are visiting Japan."

"House Asuna?" the girl muttered.

If the easily riled up Reiji was from some sort of rich family, she couldn't really believe it.

That and such a short child wearing cosplay armor was kind of hard to take seriously.

Below the torn up ground had proven that rather than ground it had been the floor of a colony, and the powerful beam tearing it up had changed the environment. The vacuum of space started to suck out the air within the colony causing a fierce airflow, which the Build Strike was now down wind of.

Gonda, a high schooler and member of the Seiho Modeling Club, grinned as he charged his Sumo's hand beam cannon again a green orb of condensed light particles forming in front of the weapon.

"Don't think that you can reach me so easily through this airflow!" he roared as he backed up further using his Sumo's powerful thrusters.

"It doesn't matter, my Build Strike can make it. Just push forwards!" Sei ordered Reiji who just grinned in response as he did so.

"Flyyyyyyy!" the prince roared as the Build Strike picked up speed and powered forward, ignoring the headwinds as it lunged forward with beam saber in hand, stabbing into the Sumo's torso.

The gold gunpla ceased operations as it shut down and exploded, the Build Strike retreating before the explosion could damage the machine.

The crowd roared in excitement and fascination as many had expected Gonda to win. He had been known to be a rather powerful fighter, after all.

At that moment something that neither Reiji or Kas-Al could take standing occured.

"I apologize for interrupting this battle."

A crimson customized Zaku II appeared on the stage, missile pods on its shoulders, claws on the legs for stability, and improved armor and thrusters. It had added details created by a careful hand and some parts looked completely original.

"But that ended a little too quickly. I feel bad for this great audience that showed up only to see such a small glimpse at the greatness of Gunpla Battle. Don't you agree?" Running his fingers back through his hair, a look of absolute confidence appeared on the normally calm face of the president of the Seiho Modeling Club. "Yes… I BELIEVE SO!"

"Yu...Yuuki-sempai?" Sei asked shakily.

He was both confused and a little scared, the Build Strike wasn't finished. Reiji or no they weren't powerful enough to take someone of his caliber yet!

"That jerk…"

Though they stood far apart, it was testament to their close friendship that they would be so in sync.

"I thought so. That's the gunpla that entered last year's Gunpla Battle World Tournament. Yuuki Tatsuya's Zaku Amazing. The absolute top amongst all high schoolers, and titled the Crimson Comet!"

"Crimson… Comet…" muttered the girl, Kousaka China.

Ignoring all of this, and unnoticed by all, Kas-Al had dropped from where Ral and China were on the second floor balcony onto the first floor with nary a sound, ready to intervene if things got hairy.

"Let's do this, Sei." Reiji growled at the slight upon him. to so easily barge into a battle.

He would not forgive such a slight.

"Reiji?"

"Rude as that was, he's challenging us. We can't run away now!"

"My apologies." Yuuki replied, the Zaku Amazing drawing its heat natas from the backpack. "And thank you."

The edge of the heat nata glowed a fierce red like its namesake implied.

"I do apologize for barging into the battle but I can't help being grateful for the chance…" the Zaku burst forward in the intent for melee combat. "To do battle with you!"

"Shut up!" Reiji countered, also dashing and made a sharp cut in the air with the beam saber so it even managed to diffuse the air slightly, regardless of the wind.

However, the crimson Zaku ducked right under the blade, and then slid to its right as Reiji attempted to pierce the gunpla by deploying the second beam saber still within the holding place within the side-skirts.

Turning around, the Build Strike attempted to catch Yuuki's Zaku Amazing with a diagonal rise of the second saber, but embracing the windflow, and using the Zaku's leg thrusters, it dodged again.

"He dodged that?!"

"But we're upwind now!" Sei noted. "We've gained an advantage!"

Reiji let loose the head-mounted vulcans, only for the Zaku Amazing to weave between the bullets, reading the flow of wind to judge where to be and not to be, the heat natas blocking the stray rounds.

The level of ability shocked Sei to the core.

"Damn he's quick!" Reiji growled.

"This isn't good." Kas-Al decided. "Sei's gunpla isn't finished. If the Sinanj and that red one is a judge of anything, most gunpla have a back attachment and ranged weaponry. Sei's Build Strike has neither. I didn't want to do this..."

Quietly and out of notice by the intense battle, Kas-Al set down his GP Base as the Zaku Amazing's heat nata met with the beam saber, knocking it out of the Build Strike's hand.

"Rage on… rage on…"

The Build Strike swung it's remaining saber, only to be deflected by the Zaku Amazing as it skirted around and behind it.

"Rage on! Gunplaaaaa!"

Dodging a new volley of vulcan rounds, the Zaku Amazing flew into the air and landed behind the Build Strike. As the Strike attempted a roundhouse, the Zaku caught it with a low sweep, knocking the gunpla on it's back with a metallic clang.

As the Strike tried to get back up, the Zaku swung it's heat nata, only for a powerful flare of yellow melt it inside it's hand.

Tossing away the now useless melee weapon, the Zaku Amazing took a step back and dodged two more shots.

Reiji was in shock.

"I… was about to lose... The hell…"

Standing on the top of a large building four blocks away was a Kas-Al's custom Sinanju.

It may have been cheating if looking at it from a builder's point of view, but Kas-Al had, using the power of the Fay Tears, duplicated the beam sabers and created the inner forearm beam saber holders that Sei had told him existed in the MG version of the Sinanju, and still had two more in the piece of moving armor that supplied extra protection between the shoulder guard and the actual arm of the Sinanju.

The beam rifle of the Sinanju had also been duplicated with the grenade launcher attachments but had been modified to allow greater use of the Plavsky Particles, increasing it's power output. The shield had also been doubled and modified that they would have the ability to orbit around the Sinanju with four beam axes each so that it could increase the area of the shield's effectiveness and give it more melee coverage and power. Rather than attaching a copied grenade launcher attachment or the optional rocket bazooka, it had a condenser for Plavsky Particles to help empower the Sinanju or form powerful defensive barriers.

Kas-Al had taken the leftover plastic from the runners to make it, using the Fay Tear to melt it into the form he wanted and altering it for the purpose he desired.

"What in the world? There's no way that Kas-Al-san could have upgraded the Sinanju in such short time…" Sei gasped. "The paint and details aren't perfect, but… that gunpla…"

Kas-Al felt a little bad at that.

He smiled upon hard work and generally frowned upon shortcuts as a whole, but his job was his job. And he believed in using every tool at his disposal.

"Hoh? And who is this?" Yuuki looked up to see the Sinanju with a grin.

He could feel it.

That machine was powerful.

A quick look at it's pilot and he knew that the fighter would be no joke either, but the Sinanju stepped back as it rolled about the shoulders, tested the movement of the wrists, knees, and ankles, the sole green headcam twisting from side to side before settling and sparking with a flash.

"Kas-Al Biaggi. Knight-Captain for House Asuna. Step away from my liege."

Yuuki was sure that as powerful as that machine was and as combat experienced that the small teen in silver armor must have been, those moves were definitely those of someone trying to understand how the gunpla controls worked.

Kas-Al was subtle about it, however grimaced inwardly as he realized that Reiji had figured out the control scheme for Gunpla Battle before him.

His liege had so much talent that it bothered even him sometimes.

"Hmmm. I'd love to fight you, but I had intended to fight on even terms with Sei-kun and Reiji-kun. I even left my rifle behind. I'll step back for now then. Biaggi-san, Sei-kun, Reiji-kun. Let's stop for now. I can tell, that the Build Strike isn't yet complete. The performance and quality is remarkable, but it's obviously still a work in progress. And that Sinanju. Well, it's certainly monstrous, but I can tell that you yourself realize that it's far from perfect, yes? I want to see the two of you perfect it before the championship and have a true, serious fight against your truly completed gunplas. Until then… our fight isn't over, is it?"

Kas-Al narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

So that was his game.

Sei was confused. This was more confrontational than he had ever known Yuuki to be.

"Yuuki-sempai… why are you being so…"

The Gunpla Battle system shut off as Reiji glared at Yuuki.

"That bastard… really pisses me off…"

Yuuki smiled at them.

After packing up their gunpla and GP bases, the two Arians and Sei walked away from Seiho Academy as Reiji grumbled to himself the whole time.

Finding a stray can in the road, he kicked it viciously, the mangled aluminum landing in a public trash can.

"Man, that Yuuki Tatsuya really pisses me off! I can't stand him.

"Still, Yuuki-sempai really built a strong gunpla. His ability and building skills… that really is the level of a World Tournament contestant. We completely lost."

"Like hell we did! Because this idiot intervened we didn't even get to finish!" Reiji took a swipe at Kas-Al who leaned out of the way. "And he said it himself, the Build Strike isn't complete! That's right. This isn't settled yet. This is nowhere near finished. Sei! Complete that gunpla."

"Reiji?..."

"As men we have to pay him back! For that humiliation… Especially for the stain upon my pride and honor. I'll do it. Let's Gunpla Battle!"

Sei's eyes opened in shock and joy.

"What? Are you serious?!"

"This is my decision! My conviction. Let's join this World Tournament and knock that Yuuki Tatsuya a new one! Kas! Join us! He pisses you off as well, doesn't he?"

Kas-Al nodded.

It was obvious to both Sei and Kas-Al that the president of the Modeling Club had joined in on that battle to fire up Reiji's fire as a fighter.

Reiji really could be so simple sometimes.

He was also more mad at himself for losing than at Yuuki.

Rather, he was really excited at finding someone new to fight. Having been blessed with talent, he had usually won with ease at no matter what he did, when he found others as strong or stronger than himself, Reiji always got fired up.

Sei smiled as he pulled the Build Strike from his bag.

"Reiji. I'll complete this gunpla. The Build Strike Gundam… I'll make it the best… no… the strongest machine ever!"

"I'm counting on you, Sei." Reiji grinned.

"Yeah!"

Then a look of shock appeared on his face.

Kas-Al facepalmed.

The Fay Tears were responding Reiji's conviction which acted as a catalyst, trying to send the two Arians back to their homeland.

"You two are… glowing?..."

"Hmm? Oh. Looks like it's almost time then. See you, Sei!"

Kas-Al pinched the bridge of his nose.

So much for trying to keep a low profile.

End

AN2: I couldn't help it! I had to write it! Even though I also have another fanfiction I'm working on. Gunpla is too cool! XD

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Check out my profile for more stories by me or check my youtube channel for videos if you've got the time.


	3. The Meteor Station

AN: Wow I knew the GBF fanfiction community was really small, but not even one review? I'll cry lols. If you liked it, review! I know the first chapter was kind of crummy, but that doesn't mean you should just skip over it!

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GUNPLA!

Begin

"So you're telling me that if we both want to go to the World Tournament, we'd have to join two different qualifying blocks? Unsurprising, but difficult."

"If you really want to, the Chubu and Tohoku qualifiers will start around the same time as the Kanto championship, although the Kansai region's qualifier is already underway." Ral informed the two Arians.

"Which one is closer?" Kas-Al asked sipping on a cup of tea.

"Hmmm. Chubu is definitely closer distance wise, but it's still all the way in Nagano. You'd have to take a train and compete. You'd have to fill out the proper paperwork though, but if you could impress a sponsor, it'd be no problem."

"Sponsor? What is that?" Reiji asked as he bit into a red bean bread. "Some sort of judge?"

"No, it's someone that funds expenses as a contestant if you prove to be promising. I can have you meet up with a friend of mine in Nagano to sponsor you for the tournament there at least, Kas-Al-kun, though sponsoring for the World Tournament may or may not happen."

Kas-Al nodded.

"That would be most kind and appreciated. In that case I would like leave and apply as soon as possible."

Reiji laughed.

"Yeah. How cool would it be to fight on a world stage? A real no holds barred fight between the two of us? I plan on becoming stronger than you, after all." Reiji grinned. "The world tournament would be great for something like that, wouldn't it?"

Kas-Al nodded in agreement.

Still, Reiji had quite an affinity for the Fay Tears, the knight had to think, for gunpla to draw him in so easily. Then again, Reiji was beyond competitive and loved a good bout. Gunpla Battle was a reasonable way for him to let out his lust for battle. Ergo why Kas-Al, knowing Reiji better than just about anyone, jumped onto gunpla before his young charge.

"Well, I'll give Ian a call later. For now, how about a gunpla battle, Reiji-kun? I'll see if I can give you a few pointers." Ral smiled.

"You're on, Ral-ossan!" Reiji laughed. "Let me get Sei's Build Strike from his room."

As the redhead dashed out to grab said gunpla, Ral turned to Kas-Al.

"So, Kas-Al. How did you upgrade the Sinanju so quickly in such a short time?"

"I'm fast with my hands." he responded without too much explanation.

It wouldn't do to explain that he could essentially perform quasi-magic.

He had also bought a second kit from the store to hide his tracks, although he had sent the box back to his room in Arian.

"When can I expect to meet your acquaintance, Ral-tai?"

"No need to be in a rush. After Reiji and I have our match, I'll call my friend and help you buy a ticket for the bullet train. He should meet you on the other side. Still, I'd like to see the power of your Sinanju for myself as well. What will you call it?"

Kas-Al pulled his Sinaju from it's case, eyeing it curiously.

"I should name it?"

"It's a common practice. Sei's gunpla is the Build Strike, which is an original design based off of the actual Strike Gundam. Yours is the Sinanju and in Gunpla Battle, your gunpla is your partner, your arms and legs. It's a matter of respect for your gunpla, one could say."

"Respect… Sinanju Armoire, then. A good strong name, I believe."

"Hoh. Powerful indeed." Ral agreed with a smile.

"Ossan!"

Reiji had arrived.

"Oh, ready to fight me and my Goufs, Reiji? I'm afraid mine isn't nearly as high performance as your Build Strike, however as a new fighter, you should garner as much experience as possible."

Reiji grinned in anticipation.

"It doesn't matter, I'm just itching for a fight!"

The two set their GP Bases into the Gunpla Battle machine and set down their gunpla.

Ral's was the MS-07B Gouf, the completed mass production model of the UC era with shield pulled from a Zaku Gunner Warrior, modified and painted to better match the Gouf's design and color scheme and placed on the left forearm. Ral had brought a surprising number of these and most of them were just straight builds out of the box, the only real touch-ups being panel lining.

"I'm not here to teach you about combat, but rather to help familiarize you to the different fields and stages for combat. You should note that although there are seventeen different stages, the same stage will likely be different every time. For example stage one is the Space stage, however it has five versions. Although it's nearly impossible for me to help you see every stage, I can show you the basic traits of each. Why don't you join as well, Kas-Al-kun? We can fight after I show you the stages."

Kas-Al nodded as Reiji whined at wanting to fight.

It was amazing to the Arians how many different fields of combat there were and how combat differed from stage to stage. The machines definitely moved differently when under the influence of gravity and when they did not and the controls for flight, land-based movement, and underwater movement were all different, though not by extreme amounts. Though not easily visible, the control orbs had something akin to analog sticks for the thumbs to allow more advanced maneuvers alongside the regular movement of the orbs themselves. There were also two sets of buttons for each finger and a bumper for the thumbs under the analog sticks to change weapons or abilities quickly.

Each of these could be customized to the user's preferences, but they worked just fine as it was. That and a computer was required to do so, something neither teen knew how to operate.

After a few tips and tricks as well as an explanation of the way that ranged weaponry and targeting using such was given and both teens trying out the Sinanju Armoire's beam rifles against one of the Goufs that Ral had willingly brought to help teach the boys.

"It's like a really straight shooting crossbow, huh? But you can fire it easily without reloading." Reiji noted as he toggled the scope cam of the rifles on and off.

"It is indeed. I assume that Sei-dono will have the Build Strike fitted with a powerful rifle as well."

"Ha! I know it! I can't wait for it to be finished. I'd like a shot against your Sinanju when it's complete."

"You'll have to wait until both of us are done with our respective tournaments. However I will gladly accept if you desire a battle."

The session soon progressed into Ral against Reiji in a series of different fields with constant Gouf destruction. Ral wasn't a bad fighter himself, but Reiji was a much more skilled combatant and had a much more superior gunpla and it showed in his constant destruction. Although Reiji was pushed back a bit when Ral pulled a more enhanced Gouf, the Build Strike pulled out with only minor scratches.

Then Sei came back from school before quickly dragging the two Arians out of the battle room and to his room.

"Ok. Who in the world are you two?!"

"Hmm? Well we'd have to have explained this sooner or later." Reiji shrugged.

"Sei-dono shouldn't have seen this in the first place, my liege. You truly need to be more careful, what if someone else had seen us?"

The prince shrugged, not really caring all too much about it one way or the other.

So he spilled the beans as to how the two of them were from another world, a treasure in the treasure room revealed that it had the ability to allow them to travel between the two worlds, even to the extent that he was a prince and Kas-Al was both his personal knight and prior to being placed under his explicit command, a captain and leader of his own platoon of soldiers.

Sei couldn't even bring a look of, well, anything on his face.

He couldn't believe this at all, even with Kas-Al's cosplay armor. It was too wild and impossible. It was too impossible, too ridiculous.

He put a hand on Reiji's forehead.

"I don't have a fever."

Then he checked his pulse.

"I'm not sick either."

Sei sighed.

It must be an illness in the brain, he decided.

"So let me get this straight. You're a prince from another world, and you just happened to come to Earth because of a strange treasure."

"So you get it now, then, huh?"

"I get it alright… that you're insane. How pitiful."

Reiji's eyes narrowed.

"Are you messing with me?"

Kas-Al sighed.

"Stop trying to convince him, it's more convenient for us that he doesn't believe anyways." the knight said, reprimanding his friend who just stuck out his tongue.

"Well you'd have be crazy to believe such a silly story." Sei defended himself.

"That doesn't mean it isn't true." Reiji countered stubbornly. "I mean he saw us glow and disappear, right?"

Sei looked away, trying to keep grasp of his sanity.

"The sunset must have dazzled me and made it look like you vanished." he said trying to rationalize what happened the previous evening.

"Are you even going to _try_ to believe me?" Reiji sighed.

"Fine, then prove it to me. Take me to this other world."

Kas-Al stomped his foot and Reiji 'tsk'-ed in irritation.

"I'm not allowed to do that."

The king had decreed so, after all. He had no problems with his son having some fun in another world, and encouraged it to build life experience, and like Kas-Al believing that Gunpla Battle would hone his desire for conflict without causing political nightmares, had commanded Kas-Al to support his eldest in all of his endeavors in the other world, even rewarding the knight a small sum of gold and silver for finding, or more like stumbling, upon such a great outlet.

"Then show me something like psychic powers or magic."

Although relics were capable of performing miracles, they weren't common, and Reiji had no idea that his Fay Tear was a relic. Nor did he have the proper instruction to use one like Kas-Al had.

"You read way too much manga."

"KUHHHHHHH! This pisses me off!"

Reiji stood up from from where he sat on the bed.

"That all you wanted to ask? I should be watching the store now, so I'm going back. Kas also has somewhere he needs to go, right?"

"Yes, my liege."

The two made to leave Sei's bedroom.

"Wait a second, you haven't explained-"

"Anyways." Reiji interrupted, turning around. "Don't you have something else to do?"

"Well, it's not like that isn't true, but still-"

"Sei. I'm taking some time off starting tomorrow and Kas won't be around for a bit. We'll see you later, ok?"

"Wait!... What the heck?..." the builder sighed weakly before turning back to the unfinished beam rifle and backpack. "Selfish idiot didn't even wait to hear me out."

Not too long later, Ral had driven Kas-Al to the Tokyo station for a bullet train headed to Nagano's fourth block qualifiers for the world tournament, Ral's friend Ian had responded positively, saying that if Kas-Al truly was skilled, then the sponsorship wouldn't be an issue at all.

"Thank you for your assistance Ral-tai. You've been a great help to me and my liege."

"Not a problem, not a problem." the jolly man chuckled as Kas-Al bowed. "It was my pleasure to help a talented fighter such as yourself. I hope you succeed in the qualifiers."

"It will be of no problem." the short teen assured the man. "Thank you also for agreeing to take Reiji around for training practice against other fighters. It is a shame I cannot help overlook his training, but I have been commanded to qualify for the world tournament alongside Reiji and I cannot without separating for a while, much to my disappointment."

Ral waved the serious boy off as the train left before heading back to his car.

He and Reiji were great friends.

The ride was not long, Japan being an island country and the speed of the bullet train, which made the young Arian dizzy after looking out the window, however having an aisle seat, it was more than manageable. He simply pulled out his Sinanju Armoire and reinforced the plastic with a little solvent made of plant matter in Arian that he had found toughened up the plastic used for gunpla and additionally added a little polish, making the already metallic paint shine, not unlike the titanium finish version of the Sinanju.

He did capture the interest of nearby children and so he let them take a better look at his gunpla, though he did warn them to be careful. It would be bothersome to try to fix it with his Fay Tear, after all.

Luckily for him after arriving at Nagano his gunpla had sustained no damage from careless hands and he was able to meet up with Ral's friend right away.

Ian van Holsen was a tall, wiry man with short hair and a scruffy aftershadow. Although he didn't need them, he wore reading glasses around his neck as he was a tad farsighted.

"Yo, you the kid Ral told me about?" he grinned at the young knight as he exited the station.

Kas-Al blinked.

"I assume you are Ian-dono. Ral-tai sent me to participate in the Chubu qualifying tournament. How is it that you knew who I was so easily?"

The tall man laughed.

"Well, Ral-tai told me that you would be easy to spot, no matter what. He didn't even give me a description. I thought he had finally gone crazy, but here we are."

"Am I that noticeable?" the confused Kas-Al asked.

"Well, something like that."

If he didn't realize how out of place he looked, decked out in armor, a silver trenchcoat and military boots, then Ian sure wasn't going to point it out. It was too funny.

"But let's take care of the important things first. Come with me. The hobby store I own is having a mini-tournament today. My store offers sponsorship for one participant in the qualifying and one in the world tournament every year. We get publicity for it, so it's a pretty good advertising method that isn't too expensive. If you win the mini-tourney, you're almost guaranteed the championship because most of the big players in the Chubu region all come for it. That also makes it difficult."

Ian grinned as he led Kas-Al to his car.

"You ready for that?"

"It will be no problem. I have a promise to keep, and I intend to see it through." Kas-Al replied matter-of-factly as he got in the car.

"Confident, eh? I'm interested in seeing this."

A short drive later, and they arrived at a large building with gundam and other mobile suits painted all over the sides in a giant war mural, mobile suits of the 00 series fighting the Seed and Seed Destiny machines.

"Welcome to my pride and joy, the Meteor Station. Cool, huh? My son and I spent a month painting this building and got a lot of fame for it during the early years of the second gunpla boom. We've been the biggest name in gunpla sales in Chubu since. I've even managed some chains and set up a few stores in America." Ian laughed as he parked the car in his garage. "Come on in. I've already signed you up. Be grateful, this is usually invite only."

"I shall impress then."

The inside of the store was amazing with many screens hung on the walls showing clips of epic battle scenes from various gundam series. The shelves had been rearranged to allow a large Gunpla Battle system of seven hexagons coming together that had been pulled from their individual battle rooms. There was a second floor where many models were put up for display and multiple areas for painting and tweaking gunpla.

Comparing it to the Iori Hobby Store would have been an unfair comparison, Kas-Al thought as he listened to the booming music. There was even a cafe that not only served drinks but snacks and cheap meals.

People had come here to watch a show to pump them up for the World Championship that was just months away.

Ian walked over to the DJ booth before waving at the man to shut down the music.

"Hey everyone! I know what we're all here, for, right?"

"GUNPLA BATTLE!" the crowd roared excitedly.

"Yeah! Get excited. We've got sixteen fighters going back to back, it's an unending series of battles of some of the best in the region! Whoever wins tonight will not only win a sponsorship for the qualifiers, but get seeded straight into the semi-finals! This is the fast-track to glory, so fight at your best!" Ian then gestured to the large screen behind him that had been shuffling through advertisements and sale notifications alongside the many deals the store had, such as discounted paint use on saturdays or half off on a hour rental of a Gunpla Battle machine on Wednesday nights. "These are our contenders!"

Kas-Al closed his eyes, not caring about the rest of the fighters.

All that mattered was victory.

He was still distracted by the scent of spicy popcorn chicken that the cafe was selling, and could not resist buying some.

"And lastly, we have a new face to our little competition. I think you've noticed how crazy this kid's name sounds, eh? I haven't seen this guy in battle yet, but he was recommended by an old friend of mine that has a good eye. A few of you have seen him visit here and there, I'm talking about the Blue Giant, Lieutenant Ral, who discovered the runner up for the second world tournament, Iori Takeshi!"

Excited whispers shot through the spectators as Kas-Al chewed on his chicken, returning to the stage.

"Give a good cheer for Kas-Al Biaggi and his Sinanju Armoire!"

Like the fifteen others that had lined up by Ian, Kas-Al stepped up and joined the line.

"Huh? This midget. Are you kidding me?" one of the sixteen scoffed, dressed in a green and white pilot suit, "He doesn't look fit to even polish my Cherudim's shield bits."

Some of the audience members laughed.

"Oh? Is this a challenge I hear?" Ian laughed, as the crowd began chanting the words 'challenge' over and over. "I think we can make some minor tweaks to the original line-up and have you two fight as the first group. What do you think, Kas-Al-kun?"

"Acceptable. I planned on teaching him a lesson for that comment on my height anyways."

"Then let's start this up. GUNPLA BATTLE!"

The two stood on opposite sides of the machine, pulling out the GP stand and setting down their GP Bases and gunpla.

"Let's see how you compare to the great Gin-sama's Cherudim Falco!" the fighter in the pilot suit crowded blood thirstily as he set down his Cherudim.

It was a modified HG Cherudim GNHW/R with a repaint using the same dark blue as the rifle bits as well as the original green, only a small amount of the original white showing. The shield bits had been fitted with small beam weaponry for added firepower and the rifle bits had been reinforced and tweaked to move about faster.

Other than that there were no huge improvements to the suit itself, which immediately tipped off that the fighter liked to pick his foes from a distance by distracting them with the many bits and blasting them with powerful shots from the GN Sniper Rifle Mk II.

"Field 1: Space." The machine declared as a large field of absolute space appeared with only the occasional asteroid or debris littered the field.

Tactically at a huge advantage for long range fighters as there was little cover and a large amount of empty space between the fighters.

"Tamashii Gin! Cherudim Falco! Locked and loaded!"

The pilot of the the Cherudim was confident that he had this one in the bag. He even had the perfect stage to use with all of his bits.

"Kas-Al Biaggi. Sinanju Armoire. For the glory of House Asuna!"

As both gunpla launched from their sides, the Falco immediately was forced to dodge as a pair beams comparable to hyper mega launchers blasted at him, right out of the gate, grazing the shield bits and rifle bits on the two shoulders.

The Cherudim Falco quickly detached the bits and dodged downwards as they exploded, the shockwave sending the green and blue gunpla spiraling.

"Shit!" Gin cried out. "What the hell was that?!"

Kas-Al quietly changed to the fourth weapon slot, and fired rocket propelled grenades from both the orbiting shields as well as his rifles at the Cherudim, which swapped out to its GN Pistols to quickly shoot them down.

The Sinanju Armoire let go of it's improved beam rifles before attaching the orbital shields to its forearms, dashing forward at maximum speed at his foe like a raging comet.

"Ha! You're finished then!" the Cherudim pilot growled as it quickly went for it's rifle, which was floating not too far away.

As he reached for his rifle, he had to dodge again as two more rocket propelled grenades fired at him again, only to find that the grenades burst before it impacted him, as a giant smoke screen popped up.

Then flashes of yellow cut through the smoke in flashes of two, the tips of the beam axe extending well past the edges of the smoke screen by a good length. Four flashes later and the Sinanju floated slowly back to the rifles that it had left behind, picking them up with an almost lazy attitude.

The smoke subsided to show that although the Cherudim Falco had been mutilated, as the GN Drive had not been damaged, the machine had not suffered an explosive end.

What was more amazing was that no matter at what angle you had seen the cloud, it was at least four or five gunpla wide. There was no way that the beam axes should have extended to such lengths.

"Battle Ended" the mechanical voice of the Gunpla Battle system robotically called out.

"It's… IT'S OVER! THE WINNER IS KAS-AL AND HIS SINANJU ARMOIRE!"

Tamashii Gin crumpled to his knees.

"What?... How...what a monster…"

Kas-Al picked up his Sinanju and GP Base and put it back into his case lazily before walking past his shocked opponent, bag of spicy chicken still in his hand.

He stopped just after walking past him before turning to look at Gin with annoyance.

"Call me a midget again, and it will not be your gunpla or pride that lays in pieces before me."

Kas-Al popped another piece of chicken in his mouth.

Reiji would have liked this place more than he. Kas-Al despised having to publicly show off, although he had no issues with having a good spar or duel.

He just hoped Reiji was fighting against decent opponents.

Unfortunately that wasn't the case, but location after location, none of the fighters present could even hold a candle to Reiji's piloting ability, and he grew frustrated. How was he to fight Yuuki Tatsuya and emerge victorious if he had no opportunity to properly prepare?

"Reiji." Ral turned to the grumpy redhead with his holophone. "It seems as if Kas-Al finished his first battle."

Reiji watched the replay with a mix of excitement and jealousy.

"Man, brutal as always, aren't you, Kas? That blue and green one looked pretty strong, too." he grinned. "Hey, Ral-ossan. Do you mind if I watch the rest of this tournament tonight while you find some better opponents? Image training using these fights will be better than actual combat if the rest of the people you had planned for me to train against are that weak."

Ral blinked.

"I don't mind, but Kas-Al-kun really wasted no time with his opponent, didn't he, Reiji?"

"He must have done something to piss him off. Because those movements are enough to frighten even me. Absolutely no wasted movement and even in the most open of all fields. That other guy couldn't even get a shot in on him." Reiji trembled in excitement. "I wanna fight him so badly! Man, if Sei would just finish the Build Strike sooner."

Miles away Kas-Al chewed on his food as he leaned next to Ian as he sat in his announcer chair. The second round had gone underway as a heavily modified Dreissen with the limbs of a Zaku III's limbs fired at a Force Impulse Gundam using powerful shoulder mounted beam bazookas.

"Impressed so far?" he inquired with a quiet chew.

Ian chuckled.

"Astounded, more like. That was brutal though. Poor Gin."

"He needed to be knocked down a peg."

"True, true. I can't deny that. Gin's always been a bit of a loudmouth. He's a good fighter though, so not too many people could shut him up. He was the victor for the fourth block of the Japanese world qualifiers for the last two World Tournaments, so he did have the right to be a little cocky, I guess. I didn't think you'd take him down so easily."

Kas-Al shrugged.

"A true warrior reigns in his pride with a firm hand, no matter his station. Someone that doesn't have at least that level of self control or respect doesn't stand a chance against me in battle. I would never allow a loss against such a person."

"Well you've got the attention of everyone in the audience tonight. Half of them just want to see you in action already. Think you can let the battle drag on a little longer this time?"

"Feh. How needy. Well whatever. Reiji's probably watching my fights, knowing Ral-tai. I should make sure to give him a lesson anyways. After all…" he turned to smile at Ian, taking the man off guard for a moment.

He had almost believed the boy to be incapable of gentleness.

"...I can't stop looking after that childish prince, can I?"

End


	4. Final Battle of the Zaku Amazing

AN: So even though this chapter's like a written version of Episode 6, I think it came out really well. I still haven't even gotten one review though - is it bad? Is it good? I can't even tell. Someone throw me a bone here! I want to write a good story, and as confident as I am in my writing skills, sometimes having some suggestions helps. That and OC ideas, because GBF needs more unique gunpla. To make. So I can buy. And lose all my money.

As if it doesn't suck out my cash from my jugular like a leech on steroids already.

Heck I'm debating on buying the Miss Sazabi because I want an Aila gunpla, but the Quebely Papillion has kind of a bad rep to it, so I'd rather not get that. But the Sazabi is so pricy for an HG and it's not even really that big.

27 bucks for an HG?

I'm really on the fence about it. A RG is straight 20!

Begin

"Hello? Can you hear me, my liege?"

"Gah! You're talking too loud, Kas. Hows that Nana-place?"

"Nagano, my liege. It suits me well enough, though I've had little need to leave my current residency. However I am currently being swarmed every time that I leave the small bedroom I've been provided. Too many people wish to talk to me for some reason or the other. It makes things rather difficult."

"Ha ha! You're popular as always. Your fighting was great. I couldn't find any good combatants the first night, so I used that 'live feed' thing to watch you and image train. But recently I've found a good sparring partner and Sei finished the Build Strike Full Package. It's amazing! We won't lose to Yuuki Tatsuya with it!"

"I could do with less. Still, I've already fought most of the qualifier's top fighters. I'm a bit disappointed. Although after the first match I fought with more flair and showmanship as requested by Ian-dono, I've found that none of them were even able to scratch the Sinanju Armoire."

"He he, cut them a little slack. They're up against the youngest Knight-Captain of Arian, right? Without being world-class they're not gonna hold a candle to us. Is your qualifying tournament as easy as ours is? We haven't come across anyone challenging at all. We fought against someone that sabotaged our gupla though, and we beat her. Sei says he can fix it easily enough, because all he needs to do is check and replace the joints."

"Sabotage? How lowly."

"It wasn't a big deal in the end. She was just doing what she could for her dream. I can't say that I completely dislike that, although I wouldn't say that I enjoyed it either. She had a clear goal in front of her eyes and pursued it with all she had, even if it meant resorting to dirty tactics. At the very least you have to respect that kind of conviction."

Kas-Al rolled his eyes.

"If you say so, my liege. However these things that they call phones are quite convenient. I picked one up today using the address of the Iori family. Although I'm still trying to understand the concept of 'angry birds'."

"Why would a bird be angry?"

"I do not know, my liege."

"Bah, whatever. I'm having the match for the semifinals soon. After that I'll fight Yuuki and his Zaku Amazing. I'm all pumped up. Anyways, I'm going to look for Fellini and have him spar with me. I'll contact you later."

"As you wish. I hope your training goes well."

Kas-Al put away his new cell phone before sighing.

"What's got you down, Kas-Al-kun?" Ian asked cheekily as the short teen gave him a glare.

"Your request for me to defeat my foes in a showy manner seems to have scared off all competition. Ever one of my competition has bowed out without even putting up a fight. That and I cannot leave the residential floor without being surrounded by nosy people who hound me about my gunpla. I suppose this is one way to say that I am not having the best of times."

Ian laughed, throwing his head back before scratching at his scruffy aftershadow.

"Well, you've won a sponsorship. Why not grab a few kits and get creative, try to make something new and original?"

Kas-Al sighed.

"Although your idea does indeed have merit, I am currently quite satisfied with my Sinanju. Creating anything more powerful would be pointless at this current point. Then again at this rate, it appears that I will enter the World Tournament without as much battle experience as I would like. Perhaps you might suggest a model for me to take a look at? I could make the necessary modifications afterwards."

Ian grinned.

This was his forte.

"I'd like you to look at some of the 00 series gunpla. They really have some great mobility as well as high combat power. Not as many people choose to fight with them, as they are easy to damage with lighter frames that focus more on power and speed over durability, making them generally require much higher skill. I think you might be able to handle that though. I've seen the speed that your Sinanju Armoire puts out, and I don't think more than a dozen people in the world could control that kind of thrust."

Ian pulled at the attentive teen's shoulder as he brought the young knight down to the Meteor Station, the third floor of the building having been a large studio apartment where Ian and his family lived.

Ian's presence kept many eager fans at bay as he rambled on about the different gundam and mobile suits of the 00 series. Picking up a few different boxes he pointed out various key differences amongst the groups of gundam types.

The mobile suits of Setsuna F. Seiei had been all primarily melee types and his 00 was the most infamous of the series as he came to be an innovator.

The two Lockon Stratos both had long range focused gundam, although the former was more focused on sniping and finesse than the later, who eventually performed a more bit based combat style with the Cherudim and the Zabanya.

Although such a fighting style did draw Kas-Al's curiosity, he couldn't help but doubt it's usefulness after the first match he had during the mini-tournament for the Meteor Station sponsorship.

The gundam of the Haptism egos were all transformables that focused not only on tactical combat, but fast and mid-ranged assault. The Harute in particular did catch Kas-Al's eye as he did appreciate it's appearance, but Ian explained it's poor balancing problems and how difficult it became outside of space combat.

Although the heavy armored gundam of Tieria Erde was powerful and easy to use, building the Virtue to conform to the Trial System and include the Nadleeh within was without a doubt beyond Kas-Al's abilities as he was still most definitely a new builder. The Seravee seemed rather useful, but it's lack of mobility bothered him as well as the fact that he doubted he'd be able to control two gunpla at maximum efficiency. Then the Raphael had the same balancing issues as the Harute outside of space combat.

"What is this?" the teen asked, picking up a box.

"Oh? Ha ha. That's the GNX-Y901TW Susanowo. You've really got a thing for picking up mobile suits of antagonists, eh, boya? The Sinanju and Susanowo." Ian whistled. "Interesting."

"...I would like to point out that simply because I have found myself drawn to these gunpla does in no way make me the same psychopaths that their pilots were. There is no honor in madness, and without honor there is nothing."

"Well, they weren't really psychopaths, although the original Char Aznable, the basis for the clone Full Frontal was. In fact, the pilot of the Susanowo, Graham Aker believed honor was more important than his own life."

"Ah." Kas-Al responded.

That was sure to start some rumors.

"Well, if you're looking at the Susanowo. Why don't you also take a look at this and see if it will give you any inspiration?" Ian helpfully picked out another gunpla kit. "GNX-902VW Brave, Commander Test Type. It's the more powerful experimental successor to the Masurao which was essentially the Susanowo without some minor upgrades and aesthetic tweaks. Unlike the Susanowo it has more of a ranged focus. You could pull off some interesting things if you tried, I'm sure."

Kas-Al sighed as he accepted the boxes.

Because he had tweaked the Sinanju and turned it into the powerful Sinanju Armoire using his Fay Tear, people had some ridiculously high expectations for him as a builder. Fighting expectations was one thing, but although Kas-Al enjoyed painting, he was in no way a craftsman or artist.

Still, he did have the Fay Tear.

It seemed a shame not to use it.

As he spent that night and the next day creating his new back-up gunpla, Reiji and Sei had a different problem to face.

After having met the winner of the fifth block of the Japanese qualifiers for the world tournament, Yasaka Mao on the same day that Kas-Al was introduced to the 00 series, Sei had quickly spent a few hours building an enhanced beam rifle with a quick charge system with an appropriate light gauge as that not only had two barrels to reduce the stress upon the weapon at maximum power, but also had a powerful rapid fire mode that was made possible by the lower barrel doubling as a cooling system.

Meeting someone his age that currently was a better builder than he was riled the blue-haired boy up to get better again as fast as he could.

It was ingenious and powerful and took out a RX-78GP02A Gundam Physalis with a custom green and black paintjob as well as sturdier armor and a upgraded bazooka with one full blast that was superior to a hyper mega launcher, obliterating the shield before absolutely destroying the opposing gunpla.

However Yuuki Tatsuya never showed up for his match.

"Contestant Tatsuya Yuuki has declined to enter match four of the quarterfinals. Contestant Susumu Sazaki is winner by default." the female announcer declared much to everyone's shock.

For the crimson comet to drop out of the qualifiers after dominating the Kanto block for the past two years was nothing short of unexpected.

Especially to Reiji and Sei.

"Y-yay! I won! I can't believe it! I was sure I'd lose for sure." the pilot of Gyan sighed in relief.

Sei couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Yuuki-sempai bowed out of the qualifiers? How? Why…"

"What the heck's going ok, Sei?" Reiji turned to his partner in panic.

"Don't ask me! How am I supposed to know?!"

"Tsk… Yuuki Tatsuya…" Reiji growled. "How many times was he going to trample on my pride?"

He turned to leave the stadium angrily. The next match was in two days. He couldn't let disappointment get in the way of winning the championship.

Still.

He had never been more frustrated in his life.

He couldn't even fall asleep that night as he was so mad.

He tried calling Kas-Al to rant and try to find a way to contact the president of Seiho Academy, but he was somewhat distracted by making his new gunpla, and the serious knight never liked to multi-task, so in the end he didn't bring it up, deciding that it would be better to inform his friend later and not have another person stress out over it.

Sei seemed upset enough as it is and Reiji really didn't need another constant reminder that Yuuki had disappeared out of the blue.

Unable to sleep, he had even gone back home to Arian. Arriving in the treasure room, he left, waving off the guards as he shuffled through the hallways of the palace before climbing a few flights of stairs to arrive at his room.

Picking up a belt of throwing knives he angrily tossed them at a thick wooden target that hung from a wall.

They sank hilt deep into the hardwood, splinters flying everywhere as the metal blades sunk in with vicious accuracy, the final knife going as far as to split the target in two to reveal that the blades had sunk into the actual wall as well.

He pulled them out, getting more and more irritated by the second.

Falling back on his large bed draped with warm furs and plush silks, the prince reluctantly succumbed to sleep.

The next day revealed that Yuuki Tatsuya had even disappeared from Seiho Academy and Reiji's frustrations only grew. It was irritating for him not to get his way, but Yuuki's disappearance had hit him harder than he'd like to admit. He had viewed Yuuki as a rival, not unlike Kas-Al.

He didn't even want to be reminded of Yuuki Tatsuya again.

However the day after that during the semi-finals, he was reminded just how angry he was.

Fighting that loudmouth Sazaki in that gaudy golden Gyan Gya Gyan that reminded him of that ape Gonda's Sumo, which led to the Zaku Amazing. The gunpla that he should have been having a true and serious fight with.

He grit his teeth as in his distracted state he failed to dodge a stray needle missile and was forced to block with the Build Strike's chobham shield, and the resulting explosion cut down his visibility causing him to take a few more blows that shattered the shield and took the Build Strike's left arm.

"How DARE YOU!" he roared as he righted himself and flew at the Gyan Gya Gyan, beam saber drawn.

"I have you now!" Sazaki gleefully cheered as he charged in, discarding his missile shields in favor of his yellow beam saber, as he met Reiji's intent for close combat.

"You're not even," the Build Strike headbutted the golden custom Gyan and ducked under the counter thrust "you're not close to being," the white gunpla swung the pink beam saber up, bisecting the gold and brown gunpla, "a worthy opponent!"

"Gyan Gya Gyan!" the bowl-cut boy cried out in despair.

Reiji couldn't feel any sort of accomplishment.

This isn't the way that this was supposed to be.

He apologized to Sei for letting their gunpla be damaged and made an excuse about hunger before running off.

He went back to Arian again that night as well, this time sneaking into Kas-Al's room finding a HGUC Sinanju box.

"Why the hell did Kas get a gunpla that reminds me so much of that stupid…"

He sighed.

There was nothing he could do.

Even his comfortable bed felt strange to him, but he fell asleep in the end that night.

The next day he didn't even bother seeing Sei, as thinking about gunpla bothered him, to say the least. He heard a few kids playing at the hobby store in a local mall and sighed.

The battle even had some small children spectating as they cheered on the Ashimar and GN-X that were fighting each other.

It really was stupid wasn't it? Getting all excited over toys.

"Oh? Reiji-kun. Did you come for someone to play against?"

The prince of Arian scoffed.

"Heh. Who'd play with such kids?"

"You're right. You only started Gunpla Battle two months ago, and yet you're already a world-class pilot and a finalist in the Kanto region's qualifying tournament."

"Thanks for the compliment, I guess."

Reiji laughed at the silliness of it all.

"When you really look at it, don't you think it's silly?" he asked Ral.

"What's silly?"

"I mean how everyone is so serious about fighting with toys."

"Don't you like it?" Ral's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Reiji felt an uncomfortable pang in his chest but ignored it the best he could.

"I just don't get it, is all."

As he turned around and began walking away Ral called out from behind him.

"You can quit if you like."

That stopped the redhaired prince in his tracks.

"Gunpla building and battling is merely a hobby, in the end. Unlike the various Mobile Suit Gundam stories, we're not in a state of war, and we don't have to put our lives on the line in battle. Gunpla Battle is simply played for pleasure. You're absolutely right. It's silly and sometimes incomprehensible, but… no. No, for that very reason… people can be enthralled by gunpla and Gunpla Battle. Because of the simple fact that they like it, they can take it seriously."

Reiji felt the words resonate in him and he knew it was right.

But he was stubborn and a little spoiled.

As such his heart was hard to move.

"I can see the seriousness in you, not the same seriousness as Kas-Al-kun, but an absolute love for challenge and competition. The thrill of battle. Hmmm. Yes. Like that man over there."

Unable to refuse his honest nature, Reiji gave into curiosity and turned around.

Yuuki Tatsuya stood in front of him.

"Wha…"

"I'll be waiting at Seiho Academy. The gates will be unlocked and the Modeling Club's Gunpla Battle system will be set up. I look forward to doing battle with you." the high schooler said as he turned around to leave.

Reiji's body burst into motion as he ran the other direction.

For Sei.

After a good five to seven minute run, he arrived at Iori Hobby Shop, not even hearing Rinko's hello as he burst into the crafting and painting workshop room to find Sei and China working on a beginner's gunpla kit together.

"Reiji! What's the hurry? You're completely out of breath!"

"Sei! Lend me your gunpla!"

China looked at him with worry.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Reiji didn't answer, but kept talking anyways.

"The final round is coming up, I know. I might damage it or even break it, but still… I… Please. Let me borrow it. I beg of you!"

Sei smiled.

Reiji had gotten his fire back and that's all that mattered.

"I already told you, didn't I? This gunpla. The Build Strike…" his smile widened, "was made just for you."

"...Sei…"

"However… I'm coming with you. He's waiting for us, isn't he?"

There was nothing else that could have awakened such desperation in Reiji at this moment.

Sei knew.

Yuuki Tatsuya had shown himself once more.

The two boys quickly left, headed for the school, a concerned Kousaka China following them.

After arriving they made a beeline for the auditorium where they first fought Yuuki Tatsuya for the first time and had their battle interrupted by Kas-Al.

It was time to settle the score.

Kas-Al felt the Fay Tear in his ring pulse after picking up his Sinanju Armoire, having just fought his final match, the only match in the tournament where someone was willing to face him. Not that their bravado had saved them from a brutal defeat.

"Reiji's gotten himself into something interesting, hasn't he? Ah, that's right. He must be fighting him right now. That Yuuki Tatsuya."

China had asked the president of Seiho Academy why he had left and why he didn't leave any explanation as to what he had planned to do only for Reiji to tell her that it wasn't important.

Both fighters had come with nothing more than the sound of battle in their heads, after all.

Sei agreed with Reiji.

They'd find the answers they needed through battle soon enough.

"Please set your GP Base. Beginning Plavisky Particle dispersal. Field 1: Space. Please set your gunpla." the system declared with its robot voice.

Both sides put down their gunpla, the eye cams gleaming with theatrical flair.

"Battle start."

"Build Strike Gundam!" Sei cried out.

"Let's go!" Reiji finished, pushing on the controls to launch the Strike through the gate.

"Zaku Amazing, Yuuki Tatsuya. Here I come!"

The Zaku quickly weaved past red beams fired from the Build Strike's booster beam cannons and swiftly danced about the fully charged blast from the enhanced dual-barrel beam rifle.

It fired back from its original anti-material long rifle, which incorporated parts from an actual tank model, the rocket pods that were locked in behind the shoulders unleashing their payload as they fired off at the build strike, the Plavisky Particles quickly beginning the reloading process automatically.

The Build strike blocked one of the powerful rounds with the shield, coming out without a scratch before firing its beam rifle at the rockets, hitting two and causing a chain reaction as the resulting explosions set off a chain reaction.

However this only provided camouflage cover for the Zaku Amazing to get in close, locking the rifle into the back skirt as it drew its dual heat natas and quickly relaunched the reloaded missile pods.

Reiji grinned as in the blink of an eye he changed to the first weapon slot and used the Build Strike's vulcans to gun the missiles down.

Yuuki used the resulting smoke to his advantage as he burst through the smoke from below, forcing the Strike to quickly adjust it's direction and block, only for the nata to cease slicing the shield a quarter of the way in as Reiji kneed the crimson gunpla before trying to quickly fire a beam into its head.

The Zaku forced the barrel down and away as it fired, the force of its grip warping and bending the rifle into disuse before it set up warning signs, signalling that due to the warping of the barrel, the energy was building up and as such it would explode if not disposed of.

Still before either gunpla could let go of the ticking bomb, the Zaku Amazing pulled the Build Strike in and forward, cutting the shield in half, using the already cut portion as an aide.

Reiji glared as he countered with a kick, busting up the Zaku's left shoulder armor and sending one of its magazine binders into deep space along side one of the heat nata that the Zaku had lost its grip on while blocking the kick.

The two gunpla rose upwards away from the exploding rifle as they exchanged blows beam versus nata, not lowering their speed as they kept twisting and turning around each other trying to catch one another off guard.

The Build Strike once again had to weave between missiles as it shot them down with the vulcan before the Zaku Amazing drew its powerful revolver and tried to damage the gunpla.

"I can feel it… I can sense their hearts…" Sei muttered as he watched the clashing of ace fighters with wide eyes, feeling a cold chill run down his back as he trembled.

"I thought you chickened out." Reiji grinned, his teeth shining ferally.

"Apologies. I had reasons that I cannot share."

"It doesn't matter… because I realize now… that all I wanted was to fight with you!"

Yuuki grinned.

"It's the same for me!"

The Zaku fired off one of the missile pods again, only for them to miss the Build Strike that countered with its vulcan again, but at the Zaku this time, scratching up the armor and forcing it back before it fired again from the booster beam cannons, the Zaku Amazing dodging the red beam by mere hairs breadths.

"Ral-ossan told me that gunpla is played for pleasure." Reiji fired again as Yuuki dodged, reloading his revolver. "But that's why people can take it so seriously!"

He fired them a third time as Yuki put away his remaining heat nata and the revolver before pulling out the rifle again.

"That's how it is for me. And now you too."

One of the beam cannon blasts hit the Zaku, only for it to come out with minor damage as it focused the armor's shielding power to match the location of the attack, firing back with the rifle and grazing the Build Strike's face.

Another shot was fired, this time shattering the right horns.

"Reiji, I'll fix it no matter how many times it breaks! Just keep charging forward!"

The prince nodded as he drew sabers in both hands, closing the distance between the two gunpla with the Build Strike's superior mobility.

"I'll show you just how serious I am!"

"Then I'll respond to your seriousness with my raging spirit!"

The two gunpla crashed together nata on saber before the amazing managed to get a melee strike in on the Strike's left forearm.

"It's not over with just that!" Reiji declared, kicking the Zaku again and dashing away and around while firing the vulcans, the crimson Zaku Amazing in tight pursuit. Suddenly charging at the red gunpla and swinging the right beam saber in a reverse grip wasn't enough to catch him off guard, however as the Zaku just barely squeezed by, side-stomping the Strike's torso.

With a blur of movement the Zaku Amazing buried a powerful punch into the Build Strike's helmet twisting both gunpla in the process and as it turned to swing its heat nata, Reiji managed to get a counter-stab in, the beam saber embedding into the Zaku's forearm, causing the plastic to deform as it went in all the way to the hilt.

However the strain was too much as the left arm that performed the counter had already been half-cut and so it buckled and snapped under the strain with a metallic clanging.

Quick-drawing the revolver, Yuuki began plugging rounds into the Strike's helmet, screwing with Reiji's vision and a fatal stab with the remaining beam saber missed the critical cockpit of the Zaku Amazing.

Yuuki grunted as he cut into the torso of the Build Strike, trying to cut into the cockpit and emerge victorious, but the forearm had twisted due to the impact and unlike Reiji's shallow stab, it overshot as the nata rose above the cockpit.

Reiji countered with the vulcans until it ran out as Yuuki did the same with his revolver.

As both gunplas damage entered critical levels, Reiji attempted one last attack with a beam cannon only to miss before the mobile suits exploded with light and smoke.

China looked away in fear as she closed her eyes, not knowing who would emerge victorious.

"Not just yet!" Reiji declared, taking control of the Build Booster as Sei agreed, with a cry of "Not yet!"

The Amazing Booster's pieces had separated from the Zaku Amazing before it exploded and began assembling itself together, which was only possible due to the quality of the space field's zero gravity.

"Yes! Not yet!"

The two boosters flew straight at each other firing and twisting as they tried to shoot each other down.

"This. this is our…"

"This is my…"

"GUNPLAAAAAAAAAAA!" the three teens roared as the boosters clashed with a great burst of light.

When the light cleared, the Amazing Booster emerged, half-broken but functional, while the Build Booster's cockpit camera had been shattered by a rifle round.

"...Heh… ha ha ha ha ha! Ah, damn, we were so close!" Reiji burst out into joyous laughter. "Man now that's a batlle!"

"Yes. I felt it, your seriousness. And your strength. I have no doubt that you will win the Kanto qualifier. I'm glad to know that you will be going to the World Championship. Reiji-kun. Sei-kun."

"Thank you, Yuuki-sempai. We'll battle again soon! I can feel it! And next time…"

Sei and Reiji's eyes met as they nodded and ended the sentence together.

"...we'll win!"

Yuuki smiled before gathering up the proud remnants of the Zaku Amazing.

"Is that so?... I look forward to it."

And the crimson comet turned and left.

The two teens walked China most of the way home before splitting off and heading for Sei's house.

"Man… we really lost… We lost so completely that I can't even make a single excuse, ha ha."

"Yeah. Yuuki-sempai sure was amazing, wasn't he? But… we really will win next time!"

Reiji had a look of surprise at the absolute look of confidence and determination that Sei had before grinning.

"Without a doubt."

"Seeing Mao-kun's Gundam X Maoh and then fighting in full seriousness with Yuuki-sempai's Zaku Amazing, my head is just being overrun with ideas."

Reiji took a deep breath before sighing.

"But after that battle… the Build Strike is…"

"Mmm. It's true that it would be hard to fix it in time for the final round… But… do you really think I just sat on my hands while you were moping about?"

"! Sei! You mean…"

Sei threw his head back and laughed with a smug grin.

"We don't have just one gunpla now!"

After arriving home with an aura of happiness, Sei took Reiji up to his room and proudly displayed his new gunpla.

The Build Gundam Mk II.

With this they could compete in the upcoming final match and then go on to the world tournament!

Miles away Kas-Al piloted a custom Susanowo, the torso being a mix between the Susanowo as well as the Brave Commander Type, the Brave's forearms for the GN machine gun and a cross between the Susanowo's and Brave Commander's shoulders that Kas-Al had created using the Fay Tear, modified GN Drive Taus in both the waist binders a full GN Drive pulled from an Exia locked into the back for a total of three. The legs had been lengthened with a little tweaking using the Brave's lower leg portions after some cutting and sanding and Kas-Al had even taken two of the powerful GN Brave Rifles and modified them to double as GN Blades.

In front of him laid the wreckage of a dozen upgraded GN-Xs, Brave Standards, and a few assorted Astray Murasames. All of them had been unpiloted, but they were made with great care and souped up by Ian himself.

Ian Van Holsen gaped in awe as the Susanowo landed the body fully painted a custom ruby red with a metallic candy coating with black accents throughout the frame, the white portions having remained as they were.

"Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful! There's not a doubt in my mind that I want to sponsor you for the World Tournament! This gunpla...this could take the throne! You even managed to make Trans-Am work in the span of two days… I've been making 00 gunpla for years and I struggle to make it work right…"

Ian's wife and daughter just clapped, congratulating Kas-Al for his achievement.

"What are you going to call it?" the daughter, Melinda, asked excitedly. Maybe she could get some tips on making her Raphael's Trans-Am work, as well as make a Seravee Mk II that actually transformed into the second mobile suit.

"...Stormslayer… Stormslayer Susanowo…"

End

AN2: Shoot I keep typing teh instead of the and when you use it enough it just sucks hours out of you.


	5. Beach-side Pleasures

AN: Nothing to say except the usual, don't own anything that's not OC.

I'm surprised nobody's commenting on all the 00 references and the like in this story. If it's not obvious it was my favorite gundam series next to the GBF. Man… I hope that GBF has multiple seasons without going crazy like Pokemon or Yugioh. That would be HEAVENLY!

Begin

Kas-Al yawned softly as he sat in his bullet train seat, holding a small duffle bag on his lap.

He was finally done taking care of business in Nagano and was finally returning to Tokyo to see his liege's final battle Hopefully he would arrive in time, as he had no exact knowledge of the day or hour, the battle.

Assuming they had made it to the finals, of course, that they had not already faced Yuuki Tatsuya or managed to defeat him in battle.

Kas-Al knew that Reiji might find himself losing to Yuuki, however believed that the selfish prince would find a way to succeed, regardless. Reiji had been too busy moping initially to inform his friend what had happened with Yuuki and too satisfied with the final battle between the two of them to tell his friend what exactly had transpired.

"Strange." Kas-Al muttered as he opened his bag and pulling out the gunpla inside. "For me to get so motivated over a battle simulation using toys. Gunpla… huh… to think… I'm looking forward to a tournament even though I hate attention so much. The world is a big place, isn't it? Still..."

He sighed as he closed the bag back up, people around him whispering excitedly and taking pictures of him on their cellphones.

"I really could use less attention right now…" he muttered.

Ian had put videos of Kas-Al fighting on Youtube completely dominating his opponents during the mini-tournament on his company's Youtube channel and unknown to the boy he had already become an overnight internet celebrity.

Many fans of Char Aznable and Full Frontal were calling him the vengeful crimson phantom of Zeon while others were simply wowed at how powerful the Sinanju Armoire was as well as his brutal fighting style.

Kas-Al knew he was powerful, however he didn't like his own methods.

Having once been a war orphan before being drafted into the Arian militia, he had become cruel, cold, and calculating, believing that victory was everything. It was how he had risen so quickly through the ranks, scouted as a squire, and became a knight in less than two years. Even making friends with Reiji had done nothing for his attitude throughout his childhood, but lucky for Kas-Al, Reiji had a habit of seeing things that he wanted to see since childhood. While having matured some and realizing that the world doesn't go always exactly according to his expectations, he more or less hadn't changed in that sense.

It had taken serious training under an old Paladin and finding inner peace that he was able to mellow out and appreciate the little things. He also found himself becoming more irrational, like his young charge, becoming extremely irritated at having his short stature being made fun of or seeing injustice occur in front of him to the point of violence.

The bullet train slowed down and arrived at the Tokyo Station.

Kas-Al laughed softly as he stepped off of the train.

Truth be told, he hadn't changed much from his violent tendencies after all, believing that men should settle all their disputes with their own fists.

"Kas-Al! Wait up!" a cheerful voice called out before a female body crashed into his.

"Melinda-sama. When did you-"

"Surprise!~" the brunette cheerfully grinned as she hugged the short teen from behind. "You don't think I'd just let you go without helping finish my Raphael, did you?" she giggled.

Kas-Al's cheeks pinkened at the contact.

Although should he wish for it he could have had a large number of girls vie for his attention in Arian, he had always put too much focus into training and had little experience with females with the exception of children.

Though serious, he always accepted the requests of the young Arian princesses every time they wanted to have a tea party with their dolls and stuffed animals, even accepting their requests to be their human doll regardless of his pride.

He was sworn to carry the burdens of House Asuna, after all.

But really that was about the limit of his interaction with the fairer sex.

"I did not expect you to follow me all the way to Tokyo to do so, Melinda-sama. Was my assistance in fine-tuning the Trans-Am of your gunpla unsatisfactory?"

"Nope! It's great! But there's still a lot more I wanna do."

"I understand and I shall be glad to lend you my assistance, however I must request that you let go of me."

"Why? You're so small and cute, Kas-Al-kun."

"I'm older than you and I dislike being reminded of my lack of height, Melinda-sama."

"Really? How old are you?"

"Seventeen." the teen replied pulling away, only to be sucked back into Melinda's grip.

"That's so cute!" she laughed. "Chibi-Kas!"

Kas-Al sighed.

The girl was too bright for him to handle.

It was like Reiji, but smarter and more grabby.

And female! Kas-Al thought as he felt her chest press into the back of his head.

Definately female!

Melinda von Holsen was fifteen and had just finished her first year of highschool a few days ago. Her curly brown hair cascaded just past her shoulders, held back by a white headband with a design of the Seravee and Seraphim Gundam units from the 00 series on it. Currently she was dressed in a black blouse and a chic yellow jacket that could only cover her upper torso. Her white skirt fluttered as black leggings clung to her form.

And she was experiencing her first high school crush.

It was strange for her, liking someone that couldn't even reach her shoulders, but anyone looking at her beautiful German mother and her almost otaku-looking wiry Japanese father would have called them a rather unlikely couple as well.

"Does Ian-dono know that you're here?" Kas-Al asked, trying to keep his heartbeat stable. "I hope you didn't come without a plan, Melinda-sama."

The brunette giggled.

"I'm staying with Ral-oji-chan for a while, but I'll be part-timing at Iori Hobby Shop, so you'll see me every day! I'll also cheer you on for the World Tournament! Let's have fun, Kas-Al-kun!"

"H-hai…"

It didn't take long for Ral to find the two before taking them to see the final round of the Kanto regional qualifiers. As a confident looking Reiji and Sei set down their gunpla and Kas-Al couldn't help notice that it was definitely not the Build Strike.

"Ral-tai. What happened to the Build Strike? What's the gunpla that they're using?"

"Mmm. The Build Strike was destroyed when they fought Yuuki Tatsuya. It was an amazing battle. One that truly revealed the spirit of Gunpla Battle!" Ral laughed. "Though they lost, it wasn't an official match, as Yuuki Tatsuya had to bow out of the tournament, however it seems that Sei-kun had built a back up gunpla made for the finals."

"Is that so? Reiji didn't tell me this. Interesting… who's their opponent?"

"Ooh, I know this one!" Melinda pointed at a tall man with two supporters, all in military cosplay like that of Jamile Neate of the Gundam X, After War series. "That's Kato-san, called the Magician of Armies, though he's been unable to go to the World Tournament since Yuuki Tatsuya appeared onto the professional gunpla scene two years ago. I'm actually surprised to hear that he bowed out of this one."

She frowned as Kato's Double X let loose a battalion of 12 GX-Bits.

China, who Ral had waved over after spotting her in the crowd, grimaced in worry.

No matter who you were, fighting multiple people were sure to be difficult.

Each of the bits were modified Gundam Xs with a forest green paintjob and and a GM Commander head replacement. Though not powerful, they were indeed stronger than a straight-build gunpla.

"He's a very low-level world-class fighter, but ever since he lost to the Zaku Amazing, he's focused more and more on making better GX-Bits rather than improving his skills as a pilot."

"Yet, Reiji-kun and Sei-kun have really improved." Ral smiled. "They're not even proving to be a challenge."

The Mk-II blazed through the remote controlled gunpla, taking down the GX-Bits in groups of twos from the Beam Rifle Mk-IIs that extended from its Build Booster Mk-II which were secured to the back side of the forearm armor, grips for the hands popped up and in grip with triggers at both the top and bottom for alternative fire, machine gun as well as rifle.

Kato looked shocked and as he tried loading the custom-painted Double X's twin satellite cannons and began absorbing energy from the Flash System, the Mk-II appeared in front of it, taking it down with one powerful beam blast.

"Although numbers are important, in a true battle, quality is more important than quantity." Kas-Al snorted somewhat rudely. "Disappointing. There's no way he could best Reiji with such half-hearted control."

As the crowd cheered, Ral chuckled heartily and Melinda smiled as Kas-Al unknowingly failed to hide the look of pride on his face.

The tournament ended with an awards announcement for the champion, the runner up, and the best four honorable mentions. Reiji had caught one of Kas-Al's rare smiles in the crowd as the knight in silver armor gave him a thumbs up.

Sei's happy grin never left his face as he cried tears of joy.

For the first time ever, one of his dearest dreams had been realized.

He was going to the World Tournament!

"Ok, I get it, you're happy. Just stop smiling, Sei." Reiji sighed, "We won and you still need to rebuild the Build Strike, right?"

"I know, I know." the blue haired builder replied, the smile on his face not dying down in the least, "I'll get on it soon. Summer vacation's started and we just won the regional qualifiers. This is the best day of my life!"

"Congratulations, Sei-dono." Kas-Al nodded politely as he met up with Sei and Reiji. "I knew that you could do it."

"Oh, I'm so proud of you, Sei!" Rinko hugged her son tightly before planting a big kiss on his head, much to the middle schooler's embarrassment.

China giggled as the flustered Sei tried to resist.

In celebration of Sei and Reiji's victory, everyone, meaning the two Arians, Iori Rinko, Ral, Sei, China, and now Melinda all went to a local family restaurant for dinner.

"Yahallo, Rinko-san. I'm Melinda van Holsen, or actually van Holsen Melinda. We tend to speak a lot of english at home and sometimes it gets mixed around. I'm the girl Ral-oji-chan said would take the part-timer opening."

"Ah, your father is sponsoring Kas-Al-kun, right? Nice to meet you. Thank you for looking after him."

"Not a problem! Kas-kun helped a lot with improving my Raphael's thrusters and overall performance, I'm glad he came to Nagano to compete." She turned in her seat to lean on Kas-Al's head. "Really glad, he he."

Rinko's eyes glinted at the opportunity to play matchmaker.

"Would you like to share shifts with Kas-Al-kun, Melinda-chan?"

"Can I?!"

Kas-Al's cheeks pinkened more.

He didn't know how you were supposed to deal with women, dammit!

"You use a Raphael, Melinda-san?"

"Yup! I really liked all of Tieria Erde's gundam, but I also loved the design and sleek look of the Gadessas and Garazzos. When the Raphael came out with a Gadessa-based mobile suit frame and that amazing shade of purple for the body, I had to get it. Getting paint of the right shade to spread that purple around a bit was difficult, but manageable. The problem is that unlike the Seravee's Seraphim gunpla model, the Raphael is missing a fully transforming Seravee II. Kas-kun and I got started on making one, but he wanted to come back to Tokyo to see the final match. Obviously, I tagged along."

"Oh, yeah, the Gadessa was really cool! Their round and streamlined forms were the inspirations for the Vagan mobile suits in the Gundam AGE series, and it's really a shame that not as many of those designs came out too well. I did really like the Braves in the movie for the 00 series though! The call back to the Flags really drew me back into watching the first and second season all over again!" Sei gushed.

"And the final fight sequence of the second season with all the GN Heavy Weapon Platforms?" Melinda grinned.

"The Arios GNHW/M was my favorite! I have one displayed in my room right now!"

"It's good to see two fellow enthusiasts talk about their favorite gunpla." Ral laughed, "However, we really should order some food now."

"Food!" Reiji agreed with a cheer.

Sei and Melinda shared embarrassed grins, the latter leaning into the ever reddening Kas-Al.

"But you know, I think your Stormslayer Susanowo is way cooler than the Brave." she whispered.

Kas-Al gulped as his inexperienced heart unwillingly skipped a beat.

Although a tad jealous at easily Sei and Melinda seemed to get along as fellow gunpla maniacs, China was glad that the older girl seemed to have a strong interest in Kas-Al, who she did not know too well yet. She didn't want another incident like Miss Mihoshi again, although it was highly unlikely that Melinda would ever sabotage someone's gunpla.

And less competition was always good for a maiden's heart.

Still, there was a reason that Gunpla Battle was played professionally. The prize money for winning the regional qualifiers in Japan, which had eight blocks, was an amazing one hundred thousand yen. Much less than, say the United State's ninety grand, or roughly nine hundred thousand yen.

Then you put into account how skilled fighters would do advertisements for both PPSE, Bandai, as well as their sponsors, and sometimes even go as far as to act in live action movies for Gundam, as the Gunpla Battle system had an optional module that could record battles and play through them, a camera at any angle imaginable, and that becomes an industry of it's own.

"Kas-Al-kun." Sei spoke up after a bite of a burger, "How was the Chubu qualifiers?"

"He breezed through it. Not only did he get seeded into the semi-finals for winning the Meteor Station's mini-tournament sponsorship, but his semifinal opponent bowed out rather than to fight him. All he had to do was enter the final battle, and that ended about as quickly as yours did."

"Yeah Kas totally destroyed everything in his path during that mini-tournament. I saw on Ral-ossan's phone thing. They didn't even stand a chance."

"What? You saw and didn't even tell me about it?!" Sei yanked his phone out of his pocket as he quickly searched up the footage from this year's Meteor Station tournament. "Reiji, you have to tell me these things!"

"You could have seen it yourself, Sei. I didn't think you needed prompting from me."

Sei watched the replays in grim fascination.

"I knew that it was powerful… but I can't believe that it was your first gunpla… To so easily dominate a qualifying tournament… You're really awesome, Kas-Al-kun!"

Sei watched as how during his second match in the mini-tournament, the Sinanju tossed away his rifles from the beginning, the powerful shields forming a golden barrier around the Sinanju Armoire as it simply crashed into a custom painted Devil Gundam and begin to tear it apart, quite literally, with only its hands, grabbing and tearing off pieces of armor as dove into the chest piece and destroyed the cockpit, the pilot of the Devil Gundam only able to thrash about, unable to break the shield.

It was frightening, sure, that anyone could fight like that, but it didn't make it any less impressive.

The pure offensive power of the Sinanju Armoire was overwhelming, sure, but that shield looked absolutely impenetrable.

As a builder, Sei was already itching to start rebuilding the Build Strike so that it would be able to face up against such a powerful gunpla.

Although he took it easy that night, Iori Sei thought about the direction that he wished to take the Build Strike in. It was powerful, sure, but it lost against the Zaku Amazing, if only just barely. And the world tournament would have extremely powerful gunpla of that level and the Sinanju Armoire in the hands of the brutal Kas-Al who was obviously as skilled a pilot if not more so than Reiji.

He had to wonder if it would be enough.

As he laid in bed to sleep, he saw the moonlight come in through the window and shine on his crystal plaque stating that he had won the Kanto Region, Japanese 3rd Block Qualifiers.

He couldn't help grin and giggle like a schoolgirl at her first dance.

He could think about that in the morning when he and the others would head to a beach-side onsen, one of the rewards from PPSE for winning the regional qualifiers. Although it would only allow five, Ral, Rinko, and Kas-Al had called the inn and managed to come stay with them at the same time.

They even were able to get refunds from PPSE for the people that they weren't bringing so that they could rent a minibus for the trip.

Everything was coming up milhouse.

The next morning Ral came by in the rented minibus with Melinda already inside as she waved at Kas-Al who, funnily enough, looked like he wanted to run away, much to Reiji's amusement.

The Ioris and Arians piled in, dumping their bags in the back before heading to China's house and picking her up as well.

"Good morning, Iori-san." China bowed politely at Iori Rinko as Melinda and Kas-Al helped load her bags. "Thank you for inviting me along."

"Just call me Rinko." she smiled happily. "And it's not a problem at all. After coming to support Sei, it's the least I can do."

"It really wasn't anything much." the girl blushed prettily.

Melinda grinned slyly.

"Think of it as a chance, China-chan."

"Ch-chance?" she blushed, turning the same pink as her tank-top. "For what?"

The older girl grinned as Kas-Al entered the bus and sat in the very back, following after him.

"Something like this?" she giggled as she laid down in the back, resting her head on the unsuspecting teen's lap.

"Huh?" was his intelligent response. "M-Melinda-sama! What are you doing?!"

"No~thing. Just getting some rest, don't mind me. Hmm, it'd be a little more comfy if you took off your armor."

Her smile got more and more sly.

"Let me see here…"

"Melinda-sama! Where are you grabbing?!"

Sei and China blushed a bright red.

China didn't think she could ever be so bold.

The rest of the trip consisted of the two Arians trying out a bunch of snacks, amazed at the wide variety of fried and chocolate treats that could be cheaply purchased. Melinda had Kas-Al feed her, much to the boy's embarrassment as the brunette and Rinko shared knowing smiles and thumbs-ups. China had apparently started watching a little Gundam Seed recently as she asked what had inspired Sei more for the Build Strike, the Aile Strike, Freedom, or Strike Freedom before listening to him ramble on about how he came to terms with his decisions.

Eventually they arrived at the beach and although Kas-Al had turned down going swimming and playing in the water with the others, Reiji somewhat roped him into it.

"I look like a child." Kas-Al grumbled as he stood in silver swim trunks.

Truth be told, he was pretty muscular for his height and it showed, especially with his light body type. Anyone worth two cents would see the small scars across his frame and know that there was little chance that he was a young child.

"You always look like a child." Reiji teased before his friend kicked him, quite literally, in the rear, sending the young prince of Arian off the pier and into the ocean.

"Ugh, what's with this ocean water? It's really salty!"

"Salty?" Kas-Al asked, eyebrows raised, "How could that be possible."

"Get in here and see you jerk! What the hell did you kick me for?!"

"I am not childishly short!"

"The hell you aren't!" Reiji shot back before diving underwater to avoid the Knight-Captain jumping on his face with both feet.

"Pwah! Ugh, you're right. It's salty. What in the world…"

Ral laughed at the young Arians' antics as they began fighting in the water.

"Have the two of you never been to an ocean before?" he asked with a laugh.

"Well, we have…" Kas-Al admitted.

"Never a salty one though." Reiji finished, splashing water in Kas-Al's face again before gasping as the black haired teen dove upon him with a headlock.

"...Ral-san. Is there such a thing as a non-salty sea?"

"Hmmm. Perhaps in a colony…" Ral mused.

A saltless ocean didn't exist, so perhaps the boys visited a lake as young children thinking it as the sea?...

"Yahaloo~ Hmm? Where's Kas-Al-kun?" Melinda looked around, her hair tied into short, wavy twin-tails while dressed in a modest, but attractive purple string bikini with lighter lavender frills.

"Looking to impress someone, Mel-chan?" Ral teased lightly, the girl just giving him a peace-sign while giggling.

Then he saw Rinko and China next to her, the young mother had her hair tied back in a single pony-tail, a pink scrunchy in place. She had on a white bikini and a sari tied around her waist with pink floral patterns, giving a sense of elegance.

China had a more conservative two piece that consisted of a bikini top that tied up behind her slim neck and leaving her upper back and shoulders bare as it covered her chest and upper abdomen, the neckline letting her delicate collarbones taste the sunlight. The bottom half was a two layered skirt over a bikini bottom, all of it in blue and white.

She still had her signature kitty button pinned to her swim wear.

"Rinko-san, you look beautiful." Ral smiled as he took in the sight.

Just because he was Takeshi's friend and she was married, didn't mean he couldn't look.

"Thank you, Ral-san." she smiled, dazzling the robust man who broke out in slightly dazed laughter and stopped when Sei gave him an awkward look.

"I know." he told the boy, who knew that the man really didn't mean any harm.

By this point the two Arians had stopped their small dispute and shook themselves out a bit to get the seawater out of their ears.

"I think China's swimsuit is pretty cute, though, don't you think Melinda-chan?" Rinko asked the older brunette as she grinned impishly.

"Yeah if I was a boy, I'd totally hit on her. What do you think, Iori-kun?"

"Eh?! Huh, oh, I, yeah, I guess… I mean it's made of good material… and, er… I mean, the details are good?... No, wait…"

"She's not a gunpla, Sei." his mother sighed as China giggled.

It was always cute seeing your crush all flustered when complimenting you, regardless of age or gender.

"Oiiiii! What are you talking about over there?" Reiji asked as he walked over, Kas-Al following him, gazing anywhere but at the flirty brunette that kept winking at him.

As far as he was concerned this seemed much more revealing than underwear!

Comparatively, undergarment in upper-class Arian society showed a little waist-line, but not the navel and was never shorter than mid thigh when the bottom half was concerned.

Kas-Al knew that, he had to once meet with a call girl in a foreign country once that was actually a spy for Arian.

Though it had been just a half-year ago, the difference in clothing standards between his world and this was too much for him.

"Aren't you gonna swim?" Reiji continued, having neither any knowledge of female clothing or caring about all the bare skin.

As far as he was concerned he wasn't wearing a shirt, so the girls could wear all the small shirt-like things they wanted.

"Ne, ne, Reiji-kun. What do you think of China-chan's swimsuit?" Rinko asked, trying to see if the redhead would set a better example in compliments.

She really should have known better.

All the prince did was notice how much flatter China's chest was in comparison to the older females and got a slap in the face for it, much to Melinda's amusement.

Right into the minefield, as Ral put it.

Kas-Al sighed, facepalming before being dragged off to get a shaved ice with Melinda as Sei and Reiji buried Ral in sand and made a Gouf body for the man as China and Rinko helped before they went off to play in the water.

Kas-Al agreed as his throat dried every time he got a glance of the girl's body.

And cursed his inexperience.

On the other hand Melinda happily used every excuse she could to let her hands and arms run over his chest and back.

Still the day was fun and the seven were able to really enjoy their time there before using the public shower stalls to wash off the salt water and shampoo their hair at the girls' insistence as it could be bad for their hair and set off for the inn.

Although it had a very traditional look, the inn seemed a tad run-down as some of the walls had markings of paint being cleaned off and the path to the front of the inn was cracked and in disarray.

"This place looks really run down." Reiji noted with a sceptical look.

"That's strange." Sei looked at the pamphlet for the inn that had been given with the PPSE prize. "In the pamphlet it says that it's a high-class inn…"

"An inn's quality is about it's service, not the outside." Rinko replied walking into the building.

Kas-Al frowned.

"What's wrong?" Melinda asked him as the knight walked about, inspecting various parts of the walls and the pathway.

"...This looks intentional and done with malevolent intent. Lots of the walls show both recent repairs as well as recent damage. Or it could be my imagination…"

Melinda pursed her lips as Rinko called out saying, "Sorry for the intrusion!"

She hoped that wasn't the case.

"Hai, hai!" a young, cheerful male voice called out to reveal Yasaka Mao dressed in a traditional blue male innkeeper's outfit. "Hello and welcome!"

"M-Mao-kun?!" Sei exclaimed.

He hadn't expected to see his self-proclaimed rival here.

"Why?..." China was also quite shocked at seeing the quirky Kyoto resident.

"Hey, who's this?" Reiji asked Sei, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"He's the champion of the fifth block, Yasaka Mao. Oh! I get it! You're here for the PPSE prize trip as well, huh?"

"That's right!" Mao grinned as he made a peace sign. "The winners of the other blocks must be coming on different days."

"Actually, one of them is with us." Sei laughed, catching Mao's attention.

And Mao wasn't going to miss an opportunity to scope out the competition.

"Hoh? I wasn't expecting that. Who is it, Sei-han?"

Sei turned around and waved at Kas-Al.

"Hey! Kas-Al-kun! I have a friend that wants to meet you!"

Kas-Al blinked before shrugging at his brunette friend and walked over to meet the group.

"You…" Mao's eyes opened, unlike his normal half-liddedness. "You're the Chubu region champion, aren't you?"

He felt excitement grip his heart as his blood called out to fight Kas-Al and see his power for himself.

"You've gotten pretty popular, red phantom of Zeon-san. Nice to meet you. Yasaka Mao, Champion of the Kansai region, heir-apparent to the Shingyo-Ryu School of Gunpla. Nice to meet you."

Although his Gundam X Maoh was built much better, Kas-Al's Sinanju Armoire had power beyond what it's appearance suggested to the skilled builder and he had a fighting style so aggressive it bordered on animalistic.

Mao was smarter than to underestimate him.

Kas-Al noted the younger boy's stance and the change in his aura.

"Hoh?... I'm Kas-Al Biaggi. Knight-Captain and shield of House Asuna. A pleasure, Mao-dono."

If he was Sei's friend, Kas-Al would show him the same level of respect, even though it was obvious to him how much Mao wanted to challenge him to a fight.

Sei quickly diffused the tensing atmosphere the best he could.

"Hey Mao-kun. Why are you dressed like that?"

"Ah!" Mao quickly relaxed and perked up with a cheesy grin as he turned to show off the innkeeper's coat, "that's because-"

"Yasaka-san! What are you..." A slender and quite beautiful girl came around the corner, dressed in a cream and pink female innkeeper's kimono, looking like an incontestable yamato nadeshiko. "Guests! I apologize for not noticing!"

She bowed, her side locks swaying as she did so.

She stood up and pressed her side braids back, checking that her bun was properly in place and pinned in by a small painted wooden hairpin.

"That's not a problem." Rinko waved the girl's apology off.

An innkeeper was always busy, after all.

"Please, leave this to me!" Mao requested with a smile.

The girl, named Misaki, smiled kindly at Mao.

"You're our guest here, too, Yasaka-san. I couldn't do such a thing. Please relax in your room and enjoy your stay."

"Aww, don't say that. I… want to help you, Misaki-chan!"

She giggled as she leaned forward, bending her knees slightly.

"I appreciate the thought, but-"

"No please let me help! I…" the boy in the bucket hat blushed as he squirmed about happily, "I want to spend time wit you, Misaki-chan."

"He's persistent as ever, isn't he?" Ral smiled at the scene of adolescent love.

"How honest and nice." Rinko agreed with a chuckle.

"Sei… Is that guy really going to the World Tournament?" with look of disbelief and slight disturbed look, "You're kidding me here, right?"

That certainly sent Mao back into his warrior's aura, unwilling to let such a slight pass unnoticed.

"What did you say? I assume, you're Reiji-han, yes?" Mao grinned with light battlelust. "Want to see if I'm kidding? They have a battle system in this inn, you know."

"Interesting." Reiji grinned back with equal excitement.

He was really antsy for the world tournament and hadn't even had time to spar with Kas-Al, though his guard was working on some practice gunpla for the two to train with. Nothing too special, but enough to get some training in with so that he could make more gunpla so they could go for more rounds.

Sei quickly shut the challenge down as he pushed Reiji aside, causing his partner to give him a look of irritation.

"Anyways, let's go see our room." Sei laughed nervously.

Mao and Misaki happily led the way.

End.

AN2: Getting real excited for the fight against the Apsalus III. Debating on pulling out the Susanowo early for this fight or sticking with the Sinanju a little while longer. Either way could be good and more than feasible.

Gah! All the decisions!

But the battle won't be so easy!

Fighting against three ace-level rookie fighters, don't think that Blazing Tatsu will come in without a little extra oomph!

Get excited! And review!

Wow when I have the muse, I just don't stop.

Still, it's a little easier on the noggin when you're somewhat following canon :P


	6. Growing Soft?

AN: Review please! And tell me if you have any OCs that you want to see in the world championships. From this point on it will slowly become less and less canon. Any and all thoughts help!

Check my profile for more stories by me, and check my youtube channel for the odd laugh.

Begin!

A loud crash woke Kas-Al from his nap.

The teen blinked sleepily before rubbing his eyes and stretching as he got up and looked out the balcony, not seeing or hearing Sei and China run past him is his sleepy daze.

Sei had left his Build Gundam Mk-II out and had left the room for some reason or the other and Kas-Al saw the reason why.

"What in the world?..."

There was a truck half sticking out of the front door of the inn.

"An accident?" he muttered to himself only to see a large, intimidating man and two shady looking thuggish assistants hop out of the car.

As he tried quickly to wake up, still unable to process the information his eyes and ears were hearing. That is until Reiji stood in front of the large one keeping his weight on his toes and shoulders loose, itching for a fight.

All Kas-Al needed to hear was his prince call them the bad guys for him to jump out the balcony window and land next to his liege.

"Oh, Kas, you finally awake now?"

"Yes, my liege. These are the scoundrels that dared to break the peace of this inn, correct?"

"Heh. Spot on. You ready, Kas?"

"Always my liege."

"Kas-Al-kun, are you crazy?! You could have broken your neck!" Melinda cried out in concern, only getting a brief look of apology in return.

The biggest thug glared as the two teens sized them up without even a hint of fear in their eyes.

"Did you forget that I already told you to shut up, you brat?" he growled not even surprised at Kas-Al's show of acrobatic skill, although it had certainly shocked everyone else, Reiji not included.

"Yeah, I did, so what?" he grinned, baring his canines, "Who listens to bad guys?"

"So you're looking for a beatdown, huh? Stupid kids."

Kas-Al's eyes dulled and grew cold, sending a small chill down the big man's spine.

"The only ones about to be 'beaten down' are you curs."

"Reiji! Kas-Al!" Sei stepped forward, trying to calm his friends down, worried for their safety.

"Stay back, Sei!" Reiji commanded, not taking his eyes off the antagonizers. "Fighting is what we do best."

"You could call it our specialty." Kas-Al cracked his neck. "Or a part of our job description."

"You can't do that, Reiji, Kas-Al. It's dangerous!" Rinko said with worry.

Reiji and Kas-Al were strange, but they were good boys that not only helped out her son, but brought customers to their store through their skill and earnest attitudes.

She could almost even call them her own sons.

"She's right." Ral called out, causing the two Arians to turn to his voice.

The Blue Giant stepped out of the inn, dressed in his guest kimono, with all the presence of a general. "Fighting like this is no good."

"You stay out of this Ral-ossan." Reiji retorted.

Violence solved everything between men.

"Did you say Ral?" the big yakuza thug turned to see Ral looking at him sternly, "...L-Lieutenant…"

"...Long time no see, Tatsuzo. No… Blazing Tatsu."

"Do you know him?" Sei asked the man with surprise.

"Yes. I certainly do."

"I recognize that title…" Mao glared at Tatsuzo, "Three years ago, I believe, during the fourth Gunpla Battle World Tournament there was a gunpla builder by that name…"

"Blazing Tatsu, he made it to the best four before withdrawing for unknown reasons." Melinda followed with a grim look.

"He's a gunpla builder?..." Sei muttered, anger building up inside him.

How could someone that once loved gunpla so much turn out like this?

"What happened to you, Tatsuzo?" Ral asked seriously. "You once drove people all around the world into a frenzy with your gunpla… so why?"

"...Don't flap your lips so easily about my past… THIS IS MY JOB NOW! SO KEEP YOUR NOSE OUT OF IT! Landlady! Just tell me what I want to hear. If not… I'll keep coming back… until this place is nothing more than a vacant lot!"

Tatsuzo stepped forward threateningly as Reiji and Kas-Al readied for a physical confrontation.

"Wait!"

"Sei-dono? What are you doing?!"

"Let's settle this with a Gunpla Battle! You were a Gunpla Builder, right? Then this is the way we should settle this, isn't it?!"

"That's right!" Mao agreed. "If we win, you leave and don't ever come bother Misaki's family ever again! I won't forgive you for this, do you have any idea the blood and tears that she and her family spent repairing the damages you bastards leave behind?!"

"Shut your loud mouth, brat." one of Tatuzo's underlings spat on the ground, his brown faux-hawk waving in the wind.

"Fine then." Tatsuzo grinned mercilessly, much to his follower's surprise. "But if I win… I'll take the rights for free."

"You can't be serious…" Misaki's mother spoke out fearfully.

Mao turned around to face Misaki, pulling back the blue innkeeper's coat to show her the gunpla case that was attached to the straps of his overalls.

He smiled at her with absolute confidence.

And that was the first moment when Misaki viewed Yasaka Mao as a man.

"Yasaka-san…" a firm look of resolution appeared on her face. "Alright. We'll do it. We accept your conditions."

"Misaki?!" her mother gasped.

"Please… believe me, mother. I don't want to lose this place without having done anything!"

"It's a deal then." Tatsuya smirked. "I'll be quick and take all you kids at once. Let's make it a team match. The three of us against the four of you brats."

"Heh. I just pilot, so a three on three. Fine with me. What about you guys?" Reiji grinned as the others nodded.

"Hah, in that case I could have taken you alone. But you won't go back on your word now, would you?"

"Scum like you won't even prove to be a challenge." Kas-Al glared.

"Then let's get to it, brats."

The battle system in the inn was surprisingly large, a four hexagon system forming a 't' shape.

"Please set your Gunpla."

"Let's go, Sei. Kas. Mao."

"Yeah!" Sei replied booting up the support menu.

"I'm ready!" Mao replied.

"My blade is yours, my liege."

"Let me support you, Kas-Al."

The teen blinked at Melinda before nodding, a hexagon forming around her as well.

"I know a thing or two about his gunpla and I'll keep an eye out for anything strange. Watch out for his allies, we have no idea what they might be.

"It matters not. I will cut them down." Kas-Al assured her.

"Battle Start!" the machine started the match.

"Gundam X Maoh!"

"Build Gundam Mk-II"

"Sinanju Armoire!"

"Let's go!" Reiji roared as all three pilots pushed their gunpla through the gate.

"At one o'clock!" Melinda called out as the three gunpla dodged a shot from a mega particle cannon that simply melted through a building set the ground of the city stage on fire.

"What the hell?"

"That's… Heavy assault mobile armor… Apsalus III!" Sei gasped before Reiji dodged again as an SVMS-01O Overflag and and a RMSN-008 Bertigo shot at the trio with their linear rifle and internal beam rifle with flares of pink and green, as the Apsalus set down its legs in an almost nonchalant manner..

"A Bertigo. Is that a challenge?!" Mao cried out as shot it down quickly with his shield buster rifle, the powerful original design gun taking the gunpla out in three easy shots.

"Kyou!" the Overflag's pilot roared as his ally fell out of the game. "Damn you!"

In a flash the Sinanju Armoire blurred in front of it with extreme speed.

"So this is an Overflag…"

The crimson Sinanju grabbed the head and torso of the Overflag before pulling it off, the black gunpla's grasping at the red one's forearms doing nothing to stop the process as the Sinanju shoved its hand down the 'neck' of the gunpla with a spear hand strike, digging into the cockpit before spinning and throwing the broken gunpla into the way of a second shot of the Apsalus III's mega particle cannon.

"Tsk. The didn't even last like I had hoped. But that's right. This is the ultimate gunpla that took the world by storm!"

"Don't think that bigger makes everything better!" Reiji fired the Mk-II's booster rifles, only for the shots to bounce off.

"What?! An I-field?! It didn't have one in the official setting!" Sei cried out in horror.

All of his Mk-II's weapons were beam based!

Mao took test shots at the Apsalus's Minovsky Craft Systems that were stored in the giant orbs that worked as the knee joints of the big spidery legs.

"There's no doubt about it. It deflects the Plavsky Particles and repels the beams! That's a gunpla that fought through the World Tournament for sure!"

"Dammit, we should have tossed that Overflag at the Apsalus, instead of letting it die by friendly fire." Melinda laughed nervously. "Totally forgot it had that."

The three gunpla flew away and dodged as the Apsalus laid waste the the city, obliterating buildings and starting fires everywhere.

"Dammit. None of us have anything but beam weaponry!" Sei lamented as they dodged about.

"Keep firing, it can't hold forever!" Reiji growled as he blasted away.

Kas-Al glared at the grinning Tatsuzo before activating his shields' Plavsky Particle compressors.

The scenery seemed to warp around the Sinanju as it was becoming the focal point for a black hole before an orb of orange-gold light seemed to surround the crimson gunpla and it's free-floating shields.

"What in the world…" Mao gaped as the Sinanju barreled into the Apsalus with blinding speed, almost forcing the back leg to buck and fall.

The barrier fuzzled and thinned at the point of impact but the shield generators whirred as the surrounding particles were absorbed to fix the issue.

"What?!" the land shark gasped before blasting at the glowing orb with a full powered mega particle cannon, sending the Sinanju flying back almost to the edge of the stadium for a ring out.

"That was too close!" Kas-Al sighed in relief as he let go of the shield put all the power into the thrusters.

"I'm not letting you brats near me again!" Tatsuzo declared as the Apsalus III began emitting a large amount of gas everywhere.

"What the!" Reiji growled as the Mk-II slowly lost movement. "The heck is with this?!"

Adzam Leaders flew out trapping the three gunpla in a cage of electromagnetic fields and plasma, shutting down the machines and their functions.

"There's two of them on me!" Kas-Al growled as he reformed the barrier, just in the nick of time. "My systems are rebooting! I'll break out, just hold out for thirty seconds!"

"Well reboot faster! The armor's breaking from the plasma!" Sei panicked as he tried to slow the shutdown the best he could.

The others watching the match cried out in horror.

"Don't bother. Nobody has ever escaped from this blazing inferno. Landlady! Remember your promise!" Tatsuzo laughed, victory in sight.

Misaki turned to her mother with tears in her eyes, burying her face into the well maintained kimono.

At that moment the Adzam Leader above the Gundam X Maoh exploded and the Sinanju finished it's reboot early thanks to Melinda's help as it drew the two rifles that it had stored away in the shields before firing at the Adzams keeping it pinned down.

Mao then shot down the one keeping the Build Gundam Mk-II pinned, a look of fury on his face.

"What?" Tatsuzo gasped in shock as the Mk-II fell to it's knees as Sei began rebooting the mobile suit OS. "How did those brats…"

"Altering the particles and deflecting the beams… you're not the only one that knows that technique…" The Maoh dropped the shield buster rifle as it flew up to the top of a nearby skyscraper, proudly showing off its newfound freedom, "OSSAN!"

The panel wings unfolded and the hyper satellite cannon extended as the Gundam X Maoh grasped it with both hands.

"How could you do this to such a sweet, kind, and beautiful person as Misaki!?"

"Have you lost your senses, little fool? The Satellite System doesn't work if the moon hasn't come out." Tatsuzo gloated as he readed his mega particle cannon.

If the brat was offering him a free shot, there was no doubt that he'd take it.

The Sinanju Armoire shot forward and landed next to the Gundam X Maoh, putting the beam rifles together as the shields locked into the forearms, the eight beam axes warping the air around it as it sucked in Plavsky particles.

"Who do you think we are?!"

The panels lit up, an enormous X made of blue light shining across the field as gold wisps of light shone off the Sinanju as a pillar of energy rose up next to it.

"I'm the guy who's going to be the world's absolute best gunpla builder! Yasaka Mao! The heir apparent to the Shingyo-Ryu School of Gunpla!"

"And I'm the youngest Knight-Captain of the Royal Guard of Arian, Kas-Al Biaggi! The bloody sword and crimson beast of House Asuna!"

"What? Chinan's pupil?! A knight? What nonsense! Impossible!"

"It's possible." Kas-Al glared with murderous eyes.

"Yeah, SO REMEMBER IT!" Mao yelled.

The red and shining gunpla fired their respective weapons, the beams crossing and spiralling together as it pierced through and countered the full power of the Apsalus III's mega particle cannon with ease before tearing a hole through the right side of its massive body.

Worn down front the strain, the Gundam X Maoh fell to a knee as it cooled off and the Sinanju's rifles had burnt out as they were not meant to handle the power that Kas-Al had stubbornly pushed through it, no longer usable in any degree.

The generators in the shield had cracked under the pressure as the young knight had used it for a purpose outside of its original design.

"My liege!"

"Sei-han!"

"OKAY!" the duo nodded as the Build Gundam Mk-II had finally restarted and flew at the Apsalus that had suffered too much damage to properly charge the sole weapon it had left, only able to shoot off rapid blasts that were not only weaker than the original machine gun blasts, but the fire-rate had dropped considerably.

"Try repelling this!" Reiji roared as he flew through the giant opening in the body of the Apsalus, firing the booster rifles in rapid fire as he aimed towards the center mass of the giant gunpla.

Unable to take the internal damage, the giant green gunpla exploded as the wreckage crumbled to the ground.

"Battle Ended." the machine declared with finality, ending the match as the Plavsky Particles receded into the Gunpla Battle machine.

"Hooray, they did it!" Rinko cheered.

Melinda shoved Kas-Al's face into her chest as she hugged him with tears in her eyes as the knight flushed as crimson as the gunpla he piloted, speaking out in muffled words for air as he tried not to breathe in too much of her scent.

The other three laughed at Kas-Al as they sighed in relief.

"Yasaka-san…" Misaki smiled with moist eyes seeing more and more the man he could be behind his still somewhat childish exterior.

"Thank you so much, everyone." Misaki's mother wiped an errant tear from her eye. "Please, it's not enough, but expect a grand feast tonight!"

"Alright! Food!" Reiji laughed happily as Sei shook his head.

Tatsuzo stared at the remnants of his gunpla in shock.

"Why… Why didn't my blaze devour them…"

"Tatsuzo." Ral stepped by the defeated gunpla builder. "Gunpla is constantly and always evolving. The goddess of victory would never smile on those who neglected their daily efforts."

Tatsuzo growled as he stood up.

"One more thing." Ral added giving a stern look, "Keep your promise to the landlady."

"Lieutenant…"

The men left in silence, leaving the shattered remains of their gunpla behind.

Blazing Tatsu wouldn't cling to old glories, but he would no longer be satisfied staying away from the gunpla scene any longer.

The Blaze would be reborn.

That night was a seafood feast that none of the qualifier champions and their friends had ever seen. The inn's head chef was a highly qualified sushi chef that also made his own fresh wasabi and a seasonal soy sauce of his own creation. He was a cousin of Isoshima Misaki and her mother Isoshima Kanon knew all of the local fishermen and called in a variety of favors to bring in freshest local products.

A lot of them came by to thank the gunpla builders and fighters personally, as the Isoshima family had many friends in the seaside town.

Reiji and Kas-Al had thought the owners of the establishment crazy initially, as they knew that raw fish could be poisonous, but with much coaxing and prodding from Melinda, Kas-Al had caved, finding sushi to be his new favorite food.

As Kas-Al dug in with gusto, the crown prince of Arian joined in as well to find his tastebuds in a savory flavor overload.

As the two Arians joyfully ate, one making many joyful noises, and the other chewing much more slowly, trying not to choke as a flirty girl tried to feed him, Sei and China made some small talk as they shared some of their likes and dislikes, Sei trying not to ramble too much about gunpla.

Mao on the other hand, was chattering non stop with Misaki, the blushing boy making a fool of himself multiple times in his excitement as he knocked over his cup of water twice and dropped a piece of sushi into his miso soup. But the maiden's heart had already been won and she found it all endearing, though she did tease the boy about it and watched the boy flush more as he tried to defend himself.

Misaki found that she could understand Melinda a little from that and the two girls hit it off as the brunette taught the young inn hostess about the storyline of the Gundam After War series that the Gundam X came from.

But all good things come to an end and after stopping a half-joking Melinda from sneaking into Kas-Al who had his own room, everyone turned in for the night.

Except for Sei, Mao, and Kas-Al.

After seeing Mao's hyper satellite cannon work without the use of the flash system and the Sinanju Armoire's mysterious shields that seemed to forcibly draw in the Plavsky Particles around it to not only create solid barriers, but supercharge the already powerful twin rifles to the point where they matched the power of Mao's powerful hyper satellite cannon.

He had to make a gunpla that could not just rival that, but go beyond it. Fighting the slightly outdated, but still without a doubt world-class Apsarus III had shown him that.

But what?

Mao on the other hand looked at the full moon.

He had seen Reiji and Kas-Al in action himself and he knew that they were indeed strong and had piloting skills that possibly surpassed his own. He was going to have to amp up the power of the Gundam X Maoh as well as gather more battle experience.

He was going to have to go through intense combat training with his Chinan-shishou if he wanted to be able make it to the finals.

His biggest concern was how well Kas-Al seemed to be able to use the Plavsky Particles, however. The only other person that he knew of that could turn the Plavsky particles in their raw form a different color had been the second Meijin Kawaguchi.

That alone might make Kas-Al one of the most dangerous world tournament contestants.

Kas-Al on the other hand meditated.

It could no longer be denied that the Plavsky Particle created from Fay Tears for a very specific purpose. It seemed benign enough, but in the last war, Arian had managed to amass all the Fay Tears of the world for itself to both cease the spread of war and promote peace and prosperity.

If Fay Tears did exist in this world, Kas-Al would have been able to track it down by now as although his affinity for the relic was not as high as Reiji, he had the knowledge and ability to use them. He had tracked the signature, ignoring the similar but uniquely different feel of the refined Plavsky Particles, only to find that it would simply disappear after a point.

This meant that whoever owned it had the ability to mask the signature of the Fay Tear and was doing it intentionally. It had to be the company that made the system, PPSE.

Kas-Al had sent a letter to the king of Arian through his own Fay Tear and received a response rather promptly.

Though if it was truly benign, he didn't mind letting the Gunpla Battle systems remain in existence. However, if it had been stolen somehow from Arian there was good chance that Arian would make itself known to this world.

The king had curiously enough, asked to see some of these gunpla himself.

If war was to break out between Arian and this world, he would crush the thieves with the very gunpla that they loved.

Or such was a possibility.

Kas-Al had suggested against such a thing, and at the most increase the nation's military power by understanding the weapons of the Gundam universes and increasing their defenses. He had pointed out to the angry king that PPSE was just a merchant power, rather than any sort of governmental power or body.

He had already seen the face of war as a child and wasn't willing to see it rear its ugly head, even though his blood called for it.

The knight took another deep breath before getting up and fixing up his Sinanju.

"I am not my father. I don't need war. I won't have war. No matter how much of a beast I find myself being, I will gnaw on my own limbs so that I need not the taste of the blood of others." he muttered to himself.

He was the only one of the three that was unable to go to sleep.

The morning after, it was time to leave.

Mao was leaving first, having stayed at the inn for a while after paying for more days of residency after falling hopelessly head over heels in love with Misaki. The original prize only was for a one night stay, after all.

"Well, I'll see you all at the World Tournament. Sei-han. Reiji-han. Kas-Al-han. I can't wait to see your completed gunplas in action."

"Ha! Don't be too surprised when we totally outclass you." Reiji laughed proudly.

"Same to you, Reiji-han."

Misaki laughed softly into her hand.

"Mao-kun. Really, thank you for yesterday. Please be sure to come see us again."

The young builder from Kansai's eyes sparkled as he leaned towards Misaki, straining his seatbelt.

"Of course I will! I'll win the Kansai qualifying tournament every year and come back to see you! Absolutely and without a doubt!"

"Mmm. I'll be waiting." Misaki nodded with a radiant smile.

Safe to say, Yasaka Mao melted in his seat.

"Man, look at him. He's really going to be like this forever, isn't he?" Reiji said getting a little unnerved by the blushing boy.

"Say, Mao-kun. How did you get the hyper satellite cannon to work without the moon being out to supply the super microwave system?"

"Sorry, but I can't tell you that." Mao held a finger to his lips. "It's top secret, you know."

They waved him off and left not too long soon after.

Kas-Al decided to sleep in the car ride home, having finished the new rifles for the Sinanju since he had not been able to sleep the night before. Melinda had offered him her lap to use as a pillow, which he accepted half out of getting used to the brunette's flirting and the other from being too tired to argue.

This world was making him soft.

He wasn't sure how to feel about it.

When they all arrived home, Sei immediately headed into the work room to begin rebuilding the Build Strike, with a few modifications already in mind.

He wouldn't leave the room to do anything more than eat or sleep as he put everything that he had into his gunpla. There was only a little more than a month before the Gunpla Battle World Tournament began and he needed every day to make his gunpla the absolute best that it could be if he wanted a shot at getting into the finals.

He didn't have to worry about Reiji bothering him out of boredom now the Kas-Al was around. The knight, Sei still wasn't sure whether to believe him or not, had made many HG Freedoms for the redhead to practice with as he served as a practice partner. Sei noticed though that his partner would still sometimes disappear for long hours during the day and not even Kas-Al knew where the impulsive boy went, although Kas-Al noticed that Reiji's fighting skills did get better, little by little every time he came back.

Still, Reiji was impatient as always. Always constantly asking Sei when he'd be finished so he could try the new gunpla.

Eventually it became harder and harder and harder for Sei to get Reiji off his back as Kas-Al was often dragged away by the cheery Melinda to do various things, such as shoppings, building gunpla together in the smaller, secondary work room, watching episodes of various Gundam series so that Kas-Al could have a better insight into how his gunpla were made and how they would function, as well as just go around on walks exploring the city and talking about anything and nothing.

Kas-Al had originally agreed to go on the walks and explore Tokyo as to try and narrow down the parts of the city that might hold the hidden Fay Tear. But seeing Melinda so happy when he agreed made something stir in the stoic boy and sometimes he'd go with her even if he knew that it could not be there.

Kas-Al had eventually come to the logical conclusion one day as she fell asleep using his lap as a pillow while watching an episode of Seed Destiny that to tolerate her crazy and wild ideas, go along with her pushiness, as well as his own incomprehensible reactions that he might have feelings for the younger girl.

Though to anyone's eyes he seemed much younger due to his small stature.

He just wasn't sure how to go about it, nor knew who to ask about such things.

Kas-Al brushed the hair out of the sleeping girl's face.

It was probably best to leave things as they were right now.

It wasn't as if he would be and Reiji would be able to stay in this world forever, nor would he be able to bring anyone back to Arian without the permission of the king. No matter how fond he grew of the frank and cheery girl, it would not work in the long term.

He didn't like how sad that thought made him.

End


	7. Advertising and Cosplay

AN: Still accepting OC ideas that you might want to see. I'll just make them as I go otherwise. Respond quickly before it's too late!

Begin

"...Rinko-sama… that was rather devious of you."

"He had to leave and get some air somehow." the young mother rolled her eyes as she smiled. "Besides, it's a good opportunity for him, isn't it?"

"...It is true that Sei-dono has seemed to be getting more and more frustrated with his seemingly lack of progress. Which is strange to me, seeing as he had finished building most of his gunpla. But he keeps taking it back apart and rebuilding it. He's also scrapped six different boosters as well. Perhaps you're right, Rinko-sama. Some fresh air and movement might be just the thing. However…"

Kas-Al sighed as he stretched helping a little boy by get the gunpla kit that he was looking for.

He was glad for the business that he and Reiji brought for the little hobby shop, but all the awed looks were kind of starting to unnerve him.

"I have the feeling that it was more of you trying to play matchmaker, Rinko-sama."

"Ara~ You know me too well, Kas-Al-kun." Rinko giggled as she rang up a customer's purchase.

Kas-Al looked at the door that his friend Sei had left with Kousaka China to see the young girl's gunpla. She and Sei were a pretty good match, but with the way that his mother wanted to to play around with the two of them…

He shivered slightly as a father and daughter asked for a suggestion on a gunpla for competitive battling. Kas-Al pointed out the Astray series for their simple, but functional builds, but also being rather easy to customize and personalize as a result.

"I'd also recommend any gundam model from the 00 series as well. There is a suit type for every purpose and they have a natural high movement range and great performance even as a straight build. However as far as Trans-Am goes, that is something you need to figure out on your own. Just because they had the ability in the series, doesn't translate that easily to gunpla. There are world-class builders that can't even get to to work at all, so don't feel discouraged at that."

Kas-Al had taken an Astray Red Frame and a Astrea F Type to show off their articulation and how well they came out even thoughtful and thorough panel lining and careful assembly. He had gone and made many such simple samples of gunpla that the customers could look and touch so that they could have a better idea of how it performed and even did so with his own money, as to not trouble the Iori family.

When they claimed he didn't need to do such a thing, the teen had shrugged as he had no real need for the prize money he had earned as well as the stipend from his sponsorship.

It was an uncommon service and attracted much more customers than expected.

"Coming from the guy that made Trans-Am work for his custom Susanowo?" Melinda appeared out of nowhere, hugging him from behind as she giggled. "My aren't you knowledgable."

"What I know of such things is simply from what you've told me. I personally could have cared less about the ability of others."

"And that's why you need me, Kas-kun." the brunette smiled as she pinched his cheek, to the knight's embarrassment.

Melinda seemed to like it though when he would buy her things like hairpins and other accessories though.

She was rather transparent when she wanted something though, so much so that the slightly socially awkward Kas-Al could notice.

"Kas-Al-kun, the couple here want to see if they can try out this, was it called a Rezzy?"

"Ah, the ReZEL Commander Type? I see no problem as long as they run the battle machine in test mode only. No more than five minutes at a time and a two hundred yen charge for use of the machine and gunpla, otherwise we simply lose resources."

Kas-Al turned to a the boy and girl that wanted to try out the machine, both around his age.

"Thank you valued customers, I hope this is not inconvenient for you. I will apologize as these models are in no where near the quality as the samples shown in the display case as they are little more than straight builds, however I hope that you enjoy these simple gunpla."

They seemed to think him younger than they and laughed at the 'cuteness' before, surprisingly, it was the girl that realized that he was the champion of the Fourth Block and the 'crimson phantom of Zeon', Kas-Al Biaggi, quickly texting her friends about it.

Things got busier for the small hobby shop pretty quickly.

Though most people came to have a go with the gunpla made by a contestant in the World Tournament, some just came to gape at the short teen, as he didn't appear to be nearly as fierce or aggressive as his piloting style suggested.

There were a few people that came by, unable to believe that he was a world contender and challenged him to a fight.

With the customers all excited to see a Gunpla Battle, they moved the small single hexagon battle system just outside the store and they watched in awe as the newly repaired and improved Sinanju Armoire tore his challengers apart with ease.

Kas-Al didn't mind the challenges.

They had to buy kits to repair their gunpla anyways, so it was helping the store out. Besides, he still hadn't unveiled the Susanowo to the public eye and had recently begun working on a third gunpla as he was sure that his Sinanju wasn't enough to win the World Tournament, while his Susanowo had a chance, he wanted a back up gunpla of equal power or more just in case he found himself somehow outclassed.

It was slow going for what he wanted, however, as he tried making original parts for the first time. He wasn't sure how Sei pulled it off so seamlessly. Kas-Al was going to have to use the Fay Tear to alter the final product so that it all held together properly.

"Whoa, what's with all the people?"

Kas-Al turned around and bowed.

"Sei-dono. China-sama. My liege. You're all back earlier than expected."

"...Why is the battle machine outside?" China asked Melinda who laughed and told her about all the challengers.

"What, you're having fun without me, Kas? Let's have a fight too! I can help China with learning how to pilot a gunpla afterwards."

Kas-Al sighed.

"You're still too eager for combat, my liege. I already spar with you daily with the gunpla that I made for just that purpose. Sei-dono is still building his next gunpla and the Build Gundam Mk-II was just finished repairing yesterday. Why not wait a while."

Reiji grumbled darkly.

"Tsk. When you put it that way, I look like the bad guy here."

"Aside from that, what's this about learning about Gunpla Battle, Chi-chan?" Melinda asked happily.

China explained her situation, how a friend of her's challenged her to a gunpla match at a girls-only tournament that was set to happen at the local mall in a few days, which garnered the older girls interest before Kas-Al took the wind out of her sails, pointing out that she was unlikely to find a challenge there at her level, as Kas-Al pointed out how her piloting skills could have taken out both his and Reiji's opponent during their final matches for the qualifying tournaments.

The girl pouted as she knew that it was indeed the case, but, not having had a good battle in a while, she was also eager enough to decide on joining with a lower level gunpla, though she'd bow out if she faced China before she fought her friend.

Sei and Reiji, with a little assistance from Melinda taught China the basics for piloting, and using the test mode of the battle system, to help her familiarize with the movements of her Bearguy-San.

Where the others found out that Reiji was terrible at explaining things.

REALLY terrible.

Telling China what the buttons did and how to move the thumbstick sensors as well as the control orbs to get different movements was one thing, but…

"No! It has to be more like a BANG feel, or CLANG sound, or a DONG touch! More BABAN and less babing!"

"...What on earth are you saying, my liege?"

"Yeah, I don't get it either…" Melinda stared, unable to tell if the redhead was joking or serious.

"Reiji! You can't explain it like that! It doesn't make any sense! How is iinchou supposed to know what the heck that is?" Sei reprimanded.

"Hey, I'm the combat instructor, just let me do my job!"

"Well, you're not doing it now!"

"Cuz' you're stopping me, baka."

"You're the baka, baka!"

"Control skills are in my department, I'll do it my way!"

"How about a way that'll actually help?"

China looked worriedly at the two bickering boys before giving Kas-Al a pleading look as the teen sighed as he shook his head. With that her shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Please don't fight you two." she bemoaned as the builder and fighter duo kept arguing anyways, having not heard her.

Melinda just rolled her eyes as she quietly gave the girl pointers on how to improve her aim and tweaked her controls and sensitivity to suit the Bearguy-San's needs.

Although Reiji's learn by fire method would be useful later, initially, China learned to fight by going up against Melinda's old Nadleeh, one of her few first gunpla. She seemed to have some natural talent as she learned quickly and could even spar against Reiji and the Build Gundam Mk-II when he held back a some.

The three days until the competition passed quickly and China was more than ready. Although not an amazing pilot, there was no doubt that she wouldn't lose against a newbie.

Melinda and Kas-Al waited for the tournament to start with China, who had some friends come by to cheer for her, an athletic looking brunette in a red tank-top and jean mini-skirt with a bow tying her well maintained hair in a ponytail, and a black haired girl of the same height wearing jeans, a blue t-shirt under a lighter blue blouse.

"Good luck, China." the one in blue smiled.

"We're cheering for you!" said ponytail, giving China a look of encouragement.

"Mmm!" the glasses girl nodded with a smile, "Thank you."

"Don't sweat it. Since I saw that match between your crush and the modeling club members I've gotten hooked on watching the battles, even if I haven't gotten into making or playing myself." Ponytail laughed as she scratched the back of her neck in mild embarrassment. "That crazy redhead that came and caused trouble at school's pretty good. Good for Iori-san, hmm?"

China blushed at the instigation.

"I-I don't! I mean, I-"

"Ara? You're blushing, China-chan." Blue teased as she smiled. "I'm sorry, Iori-san, she doesn't like you romantically."

"No! That's not-" China turned around with a terrible and worried blush before seeing that he and Reiji hadn't arrived yet.

"Nana-chan! You're mean!"

Kurumi Nanase giggled.

"So you do like him after all!"

"Don't go along with her so easily, Miki-chan!" China whined at the brunette as she blushed harder.

"I don't understand why you don't confess already, China-sama. It's quite obvious that Sei-dono is equally smitten." Kas-Al sighed.

His sudden interjection caught the class rep's friends by surprise.

"Sama? Dono?" they turned to see the miniature knight whose face appeared as expressionless as usual.

"Wasn't part of the reason of you participating in this tournament to impress Sei-dono, China-sama?"

"Oh… my gosh…"

"He's so cute! So small, but he looks and sounds so mature! How adorable!" Akahana Mikoto, aka Miki pinched the knight's cheeks as China looked mortified.

"Ano, Miki-chan?" she paled, knowing that although Kas-Al was actually a kind and understanding person, he hated being reminded of his height and could be quite frightening when angry.

"And look, Miki-chan! He's all dressed up in cosplay! What gundam character are you, chibi-kun?" Nana pat the teen's head.

Both girls being taller than average and the knight from Arian being as short as he was, it was inevitable that they would think him younger, but Kas-Al held down the slowly simmering indignation as Melinda, tried not to ruin her light make up as tears streamed down her face in laughter.

"Chwina-swama." the Arian said, cheeks still under a vice-grip. "Infworm wour frwiends wov mwai wage… Plwease."

"Miki-chan. Nana-chan… Kas-Al-kun is older than we are…"

"Eh?!" Nana let go of the soft cheeks as she turned to China in shock. "This cute little guy is older than us?! Oh I'm sorry!"

"You're kidding right? No matter how you look at it, he can't be much older than ten!" Miki exclaimed.

"...I'm seventeen years of age. I understand I am… vertically challenged, however do not do that again if you value your hands."

He turned to Melinda who was still laughing.

"Thanks for your great lack of assistance, Melinda-sama."

"But it was too funny, Kas-kun!"

"We're so sorry!" Nana bowed in apology, "I shouldn't have been so quick to judge! I just thought you were some sort of mascot character."

"...I know not what this 'mascot character' is, however it does not make me feel any better." Kas-Al sighed.

"...Wait, now that I look at you, you seem familiar." Miki muttered as she squatted a little to better look at Kas-Al's face.

"Ano, he's the champion of the Chubu regional qualifiers, the fourth block Japanese representitive, Kas-Al Biaggi-kun."

"Eh?! That's awesome! How do you know him, Chi-chan?" Miki's eyes sparkled in excitement.

"I serve Reiji as his advisor and guard. He and Sei-dono are playing Gunpla Battle together and aiming for the World Tournament as well."

"Serve? So that Reiji person's pretty well off, then. That's surprising. When we first met he seemed a little strange and rude." Nana remarked.

"Reiji has a habit of doing that. I apologize if he has caused you any trouble, Miki-sama, Nana-sama. However, please do not treat me as if I am a child again."

"Well, I'll try." Nana laughed, a bit embarrassed at being referred as 'sama.'

"No promises, but I can try as well." Miki laughed.

Kas-Al sighed as the tournament host called the contestants over to start the competition.

The Bearguy-San was first up against a repainted Nobel Gundam 'Deco' which was taken down in one well aimed cockpit shot after it had lashed out with its beam ribbon, the Bearguy-San having used a powered up version of the original Acguy's mega particle arm cannons.

The girl that challenged China seemed to be using a gundam of the SD series which was signature for its 'cute' chibi bodies and extra-large heads. A custom painted and masterfully improved Knight Gundam Legend that was obviously not a gunpla that was made by a beginner and although a tad rough her control skills were pretty formidable.

The blonde, half-japanese 'ojou-sama' looked triumphantly at China as she dodged blasts from a Tieren Taozi before getting a few good jabs in with a powerful lance.

"Her handling isn't bad, but she treats her lance like it's nothing more than a pointy stick. I don't like her." Kas-Al glared at the shiny silver SD gunpla.

China blinked in surprise as Melinda stepped up to fight with her purple and silver Seravee.

"Caro-chan isn't a bad person." she defended the heiress to the Yajima Shipping Corporation, "She's just a little strange and a tad prideful. Kind of like Reiji."

Kas-Al begged to differ. Reiji wasn't so self-absorbed.

And his weapon of choice was a bladed lance, even having gone so far as to enhance both the Sinanju Armoire and the Stormslayer Susanowo to be able to transform their melee weapons to form them recently.

As it was the three girls dominated their battles until the semi-finals where the Legend Knight and the Bearguy-San fought, Sei and Reiji finally arriving to watch.

"I assume Reiji woke up late?" Kas-Al inquired Sei with a small apologetic look.

"Pretty much." the builder admitted quietly. "How's iinchou doing?"

Truth was, not too well.

Although she had trained against the speed based Nadleeh and the Mk-II which had powerful thrust from Sei's modifications, the fire rate of the Bearguy was low and it's particle blasts were actually a bit on the slow side because of the original Acguy's weapon design. The nimble and agile Knight might have well been untouchable.

"Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho! Elementary! As if such slow attacks could hit my Knight!" Yajima Caroline laughed joyously, enjoying being superior to Kousaka China for the first time in forever. "If cuteness is all it has, I will never lose!"

It battered the Bearguy-San again and again, the plastic chipping and it weathered a rain of blows, powerful, but Kas-Al grew more frustrated as he saw the terrible weapon handling.

He knew she wasn't a real fighter, but it still bugged him.

"Take a good look, China-san!" Caroline grinned as her Knight Gundam transformed into its full centaur mode, "This is my elegant, brave, and magnificent true form of the Knight Gundam!"

"I won't lose!" China declared valiantly as she fired away, only for the even more mobile Knight Gundam to breeze around the shots as the hooves literally, walked on air.

"Iinchou! You can do it!" Sei cheered to China's surprise.

She had been too focused on the battle to realize that Sei had arrived to see her fight and in her distraction, the Knight Gundam came and delivered the final blow, the lance breaking the Bearguy's guard before it drew it's sword and drove it into the Bearguy's cockpit.

Or so everyone thought.

Suddenly the Knight Gundam bounced backwards as if repelled by some other worldly force.

"What?" Melinda's eyes widened. "How did that happen?"

When the Knight Gundam cut off the arm off the yellow gunpla, it found that there was cotton inside, which had saved the ursine gunpla from destruction. Apparently it had a backstory of being a cute teddy bear that one day woke up to find itself as a living robot.

Miki and Nana could only laugh at their friend's cuteness.

As the angry Caroline came in for a overhead strike, the Bearguy-San fired a wad of cotton into the Knight, the fibers getting caught in the joints and tying the silver gunpla in place.

Needless to say, once that China had fired the cotton shot, the match had essentially been won.

The Bearguy picked up the thrashing wad of cotton and plastic before tossing it out of the field, winning by Ring-Out.

Although it was such a silly thing, it was actually quite ingenious. Not only did the cotton protect the gunpla from being destroyed, but it was the ultimate pacifying weapon. Sure, it wasn't 'real' Gunpla Battle, but who could argue with results?

The judges even let it roll with a laugh.

It was a tournament for girls, after all. Seeing a teddy bear gunpla stuffed with cotton?

"Why not?" they said. It wasn't as if she could compete in the finals anyways, as China hadn't brought the parts needed to fix the gunpla, and Melinda won by default.

Still, this was a lesson and huge turning point for Sei's building career.

He admitted that he had been so tied up in scenario settings and Gundam worldview that he had forgotten that imagination was equally important in gunpla building. He had thanked the girl with a hug without thinking as he left, running to head home and finish his gunpla.

Seemingly in no time at all, Sei finished his gunpla for the World Tournament.

All Kas-Al got was a glimpse at the gunpla and he could feel Sei's soul and spirit personified within the paint and plastic. Sei was so secretive about it that when he had Reiji test the finished product, he took large poster paper and tape, sealing up the window looking into the battle room and even forced his mom to close the shop early while it was in use.

Reiji seemed really pumped for the World Tournament, Kas-Al noted. So much so that he didn't even spar with his guard as he instead used the new gunpla in the battle room, running matches against the computer or test runs to get a better feel for the gunpla.

In no time at all it seemed that the World Tournament had arrived as the boys were driven by Ral to the World Tournament held in Shizuoka, south-west of Tokyo, handmade charms from Kousaka China in hand. Both the Gunpla Battle World Tournament Stadium and the Fighter's Village was located on a small island just off the coast of Shizuoka and it became quite a drive to arrive there..

"This is quite a bridge." Kas-Al marveled at the eight lane wide, one and a half mile-long bridge, a worthy rival for the Golden Gate Bridge in America. "Arian architects would love to study your structural architecture."

"Yay, a bridge, whatever. It's too damn long." Reiji huffed as he snacked on some chips. "How much longer?"

"Just a minute. Only fighters and their transports are allowed across the Builder's Bridge this early in the day, alongside VIPs and news crews. It's pretty bare." Ral chuckled at the impatient teen.

Having been to every World Tournament so far, it took Ral no time at all to drop the teens off at the Fighter's Village, saluting them off while wishing them luck.

While Sei and Kas-Al saluted the man back, Reiji did not as he was neither a Gundam maniac or a soldier.

The problem was getting into the building as news crews tried interviewing every fighter entering the building. Very few of the top contenders stopped to answer anything as they avoided them skillfully, but they managed to surround the Arian fighters, much to Reiji's irritation.

"Please subside. We simply wish to enter the building. You're persistent buzzing is a slight upon my liege." Kas-Al spoke up in all seriousness.

"Excuse us, are you Kas-Al Biaggi-san? May we ask you a few questions?"

"You may not, as I have stated, we simply wish entry into the building. Please remove yourselves from our path."

"Just a few questions first, we promise to move afterwards."

Kas-Al cursed under his breath.

These 'reporters' were grating on his nerves.

"Let Sei-dono and my liege pass, then. I will answer your questions."

Reluctantly, the crowd made way for the two boys to pass as Sei gave Kas-Al a look of thanks.

Then came a flurry of words as the teen answered with as few words as possible each time, rarely giving anything but a yes or no.

Although when asked how it felt to enter the World Tournament at such a young age, he exploded calling the reporter a blind rapscallion and a fool, telling him that he was seventeen to the surprise of the reporters.

Though that was the short of it as a fifteen minute tongue lashing had silenced the crowd into backing off when he gave them an a cold stare that threatened great pain if they bothered him any longer.

Although stomping hard enough to crack the pavement might have added to that, his power enhanced for a brief moment, the Fay Tear reacting to his extreme anger, unknown to all.

"They mention your height?" Reiji laughed as he saw the angry knight open the door to his room with a kick.

He had been waiting in the hallway for his friend who was supposed to be in the room right next over.

"Evidently."

Kas-Al slammed the door to drown out the sounds of laughter.

The first night was supposed to be a social event for all the contestants of the tournament to meet and mingle with VIPs and sponsors also attending.

Kas-Al and Reiji both hated social events, but Ian van Holsen was attending and he had requested the young knight to attend as part of his duties. He was also to wear an outfit provided for him by the man.

His eye twitched.

It was essentially a cosplay outfit of Mr. Bushido from 00 Gundam without the mask, some of the black swapped out for silver, and a crimson, ethereal meteor with the symbol of Zeon in the center of it on the back of the coat. It also had the words 'Meteor Station' embroidered in gold letters over his right shoulder.

"What manner of costume is this?" he muttered in irritation.

They had also supplied plastic armor that looked impressively like his own with gold borders and eagles like those of Zeon military uniforms and mobile suits.

Thinking it must have been some light metal armor he tested the denseness of one of the pieces, accidentally snapping it in half.

"Ah…"

He sighed.

Kas-Al glanced at the clock which stated 4:30 PM in neon green digital letters telling him that he had an hour before the event started.

"I'll paint quickly then."

It wasn't as if personalizing your armor was frowned upon as a knight anyways.

"...Kas-Al?"

"Don't say anything, Sei-dono."

"No it looks good."

"It looks terrible."

"It's really well made, actually. Aside from your armor and the slight color differences and the logos, it looks pretty much spot on for 's-"

"I know, Sei-dono. Melinda-sama requested that I watch the entirety of the two seasons of 00 Gundam with her, remember? I know just well enough what this garb is to represent."

"I think it looks cool."

"I look like a fancy monkey."

"I think _I_ look like a fancy monkey." Sei laughed as the irritated Kas-Al and he walked toward the event hall where the social event was being held.

"Reiji ran off, didn't he?"

"I'll kill him when he gets back. This is important!" Sei grumbled.

"Reiji has always hated formal events. Then again, so have I. If Ian-dono had not requested my presence, I would have simply looked about the area and familiarized myself with my surroundings."

Sei sweatdropped.

"That sounds like you alright, Kas-Al-kun."

They walked upto the check-in desk, handing in their invitations.

"Welcome, Iori Sei-sama. Biaggi Kas-Al-sama. Please go inside." the greeter smiled as they were let in.

"H-hai!" Sei replied nervously.

Kas-Al nodded regally.

"This is amazing…" Sei gasped as he saw people of every ethnicity dressed up and socializing in the tastefully decorated room. "To think everybody here came from all over the world to play Gunpla Battle…"

He rubbed his hands together in nervousness.

"Sei-han! Kas-Al-han? Long time no see! Nice outfit."

"Mao-dono. Greetings. I still dislike it."

"Ha ha, you're too serious, Kas-Al-han. Man it seems like forever since the beach, eh?"

"Mao-kun!" Sei smiled as Mao offered the two drinks, the Arian refusing politely.

Mao just shrugged before drinking from the second cup himself.

"I can see it in your eyes. You've completed your gunpla for the World Tournament, huh? Although you seem to have not yet finished your next gunpla quite yet, Kas-Al-han."

The knight nodded.

"My third gunpla is still incomplete, yes. I'm almost done with the last of the body and soon I'll be able to set up the weapons and other systems soon."

"Third? I didn't even know you had a second! Is that why you were made to wear that cosplay?" Sei asked with surprise as Mao opened his eyes with interest.

"Perhaps, then again, Kas-kun doesn't like to talk when it's not necessary, eh?"

The three turned as Ian van Holsen stood by them in surprisingly casual attire, a dark blue polo shirt with the Celestial Being logo on his shoulder. It was tucked into a pair of beige slacks and held up with a belt.

"Wow, you really look like Ian Vashti, sir!" Sei marveled at the man.

"Ha ha! I know, right? We could be brothers! I'm Ian von Holsen, Melinda's father and owner of Meteor Station, Kas-Al's sponsor. Come on, boya. I get to show you off now, gya ha ha!"

"Save me, Sei-dono! Mao-dono!"

"Erm… good luck?" the two responded weakly.

Though he was polite, civil, and aloof while acting like the perfect socialite, much to Ian's and Melinda's amazement and pleasure, Ian hated every moment of that night.

Other than Melinda's company perhaps.

Just a little.

He seemed to have garnered the attention of the female Russian representative though, much to Melinda's irritation as the two actually had a real conversation, to the petit teen's pleasure. He had been quite sick of the small-talk of the event. And though she seemed to be interested on a purely professional basis, the female French representative had been rather talkative with the Arian knight, very interested in where he had acquired his armor and outfit.

Melinda smelled enemies and did her best to stay by Kas-Al's side all night.

She even had him walk her back to the hotel where she was staying with her family.

That was a walk that Kas-Al didn't mind too much.

She had also given him an opportunity to leave the party early, after all.

He had barely even gotten to snack on all the different cultural foods because he was forced to walk around and talk so much.

Though Reiji would have hated the event as well and would have had a laugh over his older friend's misery, he had indeed missed out on the buffet of a lifetime.

The next morning Kas-Al woke to a note from Ian.

He was to wear the costume when he battled as well.

"...Perhaps entering the World Tournament was more trouble than I anticipated."

He sighed reluctantly.

He had to investigate PPSE anyways.

Participating in the tournament would help, he was sure.

End

AN2: Yeah! Tournament about to begin! WHOOOOOO! Getting all excited about it XD. I think I might extend the finals to best 32 and add four more events than the original tournament.

Although I think I'll change the silly things like the sack-toss competition they had, although other things like the ranged shooting, and _yes_… the _race_ was also somewhat logical. Any Nascar fans can have their manly fangirl screams now.


	8. Two Pinnacles Revealed

AN: I am currently making a replica of the Stormslayer Susanowo (which, small but not unexpected spoiler: will be fighting in this chapter) to the best of my abilities! I'm not an incredibly advanced modeler, but I will do my best to finish it soon and post a video of it on my YouTube channel, please look forward to it! Subscribe now! XD

Begin

"Mao-dono. Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

"As well as I could." the Kyoto resident smiled cheerily. "And you, Kas-Al-han?"

"Well enough." The reluctant cosplayer glanced at a very sick Ricardo Fellini, the Italian dandy and representative of Italy who was suffering a bad case of a hangover. "Who is this unsightly drunkard?"

Mao choked back a laugh.

"Who you calling a drunk, brat?" Fellini glared at the Arian grumpily.

Even when hung over, he had his pride.

"You obviously have not glanced at a reflective surface this morning. You're so hung-over that I smell the alcohol over your perfume."

"It's cologne! Urp!"

Kas-Al eyed the man distastefully.

"Point proven."

"Ano… that's Ricardo Fellini, the Italian representative and a tournament veteran. He helped Reiji-han train for the World Tournament." Mao told the knight.

"...I hope he was sober."

"I WAS! URPPPP!"

Kirara, the Gunpla Idol, who was the tournaments image character that year, announced that the first round of the tournament would be a four-player knockout match. Last fighter standing would walk away with four points and the last to fall would gain one point.

This suited the Arian just fine.

He looked around.

Sei and Reiji were missing.

He hoped that they weren't oversleeping.

If they did, they'd have to learn to keep track of time for themselves. They were old enough that he shouldn't have to hold their hands for this.

Kas-Al didn't pay attention to most of the fights, only paying attention to anyone that seemed that they would provide a challenge. He was in the very last set of four and according to Mao none of his enemies would be particularly note-worthy.

The French and Russian representatives that he had talked to the night before got through easily enough, as did Mao who didn't even need to use his satellite cannon. The purple Abigorbine, the gunpla of the Thai representative Luang Dallara caught his eye though as it defeated its enemies with minimal movements and brutal hand to hand combat, going as far as to rip the cockpit out of a modified Zaku II with one smooth strike of its hand.

Fellini managed to impress Kas-Al in the end, as he fought with amazingly smooth and elegant piloting skills. Though a bit on the flashy side, the Italian's Wing Gundam Fenice, the only asymmetric gunpla in the World Tournament suited the flamboyant man's flashy swordplay well.

Kas-Al still thought him a drunk, though.

It was the match after his that caught his eye the most, however.

The Finnish representative Aila Jyrkiainen, who had apparently defeated the previous world champion, Carlos Kaiser, to qualify for the World Tournament. Her original Quebeley Papillion spread its wide shoulder armor as her opponents seemed to be obliterated by an invisible force.

His eyes had caught the glimpse of tiny clear funnels that had simply gotten really close to the enemy gunpla before firing at point blank range to minimize the beam flare which would not be seen in the following explosion which would also destroy them, making them untraceable.

Kas-Al smiled.

He had the perfect counter already in his Susanowo's systems, although he knew she would be no pushover regardless.

The announcers chattered in amazed tones as they were unable to explain the phenomena that had occurred before them, the crowd cheering like mad.

Though not as much as expected from such an overwhelming victory.

Flashy battles were a bit of a staple of Gunpla fighting, after all.

However the next set of four would include the Sei and Reiji duo and the two were still nowhere to be seen.

Kas-Al sighed.

Perhaps he should have woken the boys up?

"...the Chinese representative Chang Xiao Ping! After them is, representing the Kanto region of Japan, Iori Sei and Reiji the Japanese 3rd block representatives!"

There was a tense ten seconds before the screen showed the two boys running for their lives, following a tournament assistant.

"Finally, they show up! They're very late! Five more seconds and they would have had to suffer an _embarrassing_ forfeit for their first match!"

Kas-Al wasn't sure whether to sigh in relief or berate Reiji, who was likely the cause of the duo's lateness if his embarrassed smile was any indication.

Fellini, who had finally sobered up, couldn't help but laugh.

"Jeez, this is what I was talking about! You should have gone to bed early!" Sei panted out as Reiji set down the GP Base.

"Just set the Gunpla! Hurry!"

Iori pulled out a beautiful original Strike that looked like the old Build strike with a new booster unit, rifle, and shield, though the last two were reminiscent of its previous loadout.

"So that's Iori Sei's gunpla, huh?" Fellini grinned. "It looks strong."

"I can tell!" Mao excitedly leaned closer to the screen, "Though it looks the same, it's completely different!"

The screen showed the data for the four fighters as well as their gunpla for a few seconds before the match began.

"GAT-X105B/ST Star Build Strike, huh? Interesting." Kas-Al grinned.

Sei finished the OS boot up and smiled with excitement.

"Reiji, it's done. Let's go!"

"Okay!"

"Battle Start!" The Gunpla Battle machine declared systematically.

"Star Build Strike!" Sei cried.

"Here we go!" Reiji finished as the white gunpla shot through into the field.

The Strike did a barrel roll to avoid an asteroid before shooting forwards into the space field.

A Zaku F2000 piloted by the Chinese rep spotted them, following intently to strike the white gunpla down.

"Take this!" the pilot fired a set of three missiles from the shoulder pod, only for the white gunpla to evade two and shoot the third one down with its powerful star beam rifle.

At that moment an artillery based Strike Noire snuck up from behind with an original beam bazooka as it fired at the Star Build Strike.

The white gunpla brought up a shield to attempt to block the beam which would have overcome it, but the yellow particle beam suddenly flashed blue as it was erased from existence.

This caught the attention of every competitor in the tournament.

As the other representatives expressed their shock, the battle continued as a red Geymalk fired a hyper mega particle gun stored in its torso at the Strike Noir's rifle, the blinding beam blowing up the heavy weapon and sending the Strike Noire flying with a moderately damaged right arm.

The beam continued onwards to the Star Build Strike as the same phenomena happened again, the yellow light fluttering and fraying as it ceased to exist.

Attentive eyes would reveal at a camera close up that the shield had opened and close with the beam.

"Absorption? I see… he took it a different route than I. How interesting." Kas-Al smiled, muttering softly to himself.

Though his was more of accelerated infusion.

"I knew it was new equipment!" Mao grinned excitedly, hands balled into fists.

Fellini smirked.

"They've sure amazed us." he said, gears turning in his head.

The green and gold custom painted Super Zaku F2000 chased the Star Build Strike intent on the prestige of shooting it down, only for Reiji to strafe behind a large asteroid and come out in a different direction than expected, sinking a beam rifle shot into the cockpit from the gap between the helmet and torso armor.

The crowd went wild as the announcer declared the defeat of the Zaku F2000.

The red Geymalk's pilot, the representative from Monaco let loose its two Mother Funnels which dropped fourteen Child funnels each, as she skillfully commanded the smaller Child Funnels to shoot at her remaining two foes.

The Strike Noire made a valiant effort, but the pilot was not skilled enough to compete against the small, yet powerful weapons as he was quickly shut down, his shield unable to save him from destruction.

The Star Build Strike on the other hand evaded the shots skillfully, but was slowly being overrun now that the Strike Noire wasn't there to split attention from it.

Reiji growled as he shot down the odd funnel here and there, but nowhere near quickly enough.

"This is never-ending! Dammit! Sei, how's the charging?"

"The converting's just completed. We are at a hundred, ready at full power. Punch it, Reiji!"

"Finally! Discharging!"

He opened up the special weapon slots and selected the Discharge: Speed Mode.

With that the clear red pieces on the Star Build Strike's Universe Booster began to glow before emitting a wave of Plavsky Particles before creating four three cornered 'stars' of yellow light that formed a gate, the opening holding a massive amount of glittering Plavsky Particles.

The Star Build Strike flew into the Universe Gate, the particles clinging around the portion where the Universe Booster connected to the torso's shoulders like a cape before it rippled and blasted outward forming Plavsky Particle wings.

"The wings of the North Star Emperor…" Kas-Al's eyes widened in shock.

How had Sei pulled that one off?!

The weapon of the untouchable spirit of the Arian mythos! Did Reiji even know what a legendary event Sei had triggered?!

Kas-Al shook his head as the Star Build Strike flew through the swarm of Child Funnels, the residue particles causing the weaker plastic to overload and disintegrate.

The Geymalk's pilot grimaced as she fired off with the Mother Funnels, twenty eight beams of light twisting and bending and chasing like a complex, six dimensional game of snake, trying to hit the white gunpla that just blurred about as if the beams moved in slow motion.

To think Reiji's affinity with the Fay Tears were so high that he could so easily pilot the gunpla that had reached the pinnacle of what could only be called offensive speed magic…

The knight bit his lip as his pupils dilated, his blood calling out to go fight and crush the Star Build Strike. He bit down hard enough to draw blood, almost piercing his lip as warm crimson liquid ran down his chin.

The Star Build Strike almost lazily pumped two shots into the Mother Funnels before weaving through all of the powerful shots from the panicking Geymalk's pilot.

It only took one from Reiji to finish her off.

Kas-Al quickly covered his mouth as he used the Fays Tear to quickly regenerate the damaged tissue, breathing deeply as he calmed himself.

He only had to wait one more round before he could fight.

If he could hold in that bloodlust everything would be fine.

He knew one thing though.

He could never report this to the King of Arian.

Though a man of justice, he was still a king and would not hesitate to use Sei to unlock the powers of the Fay Tears to increase the powers of the Arian militia and knights for the good of his people.

He would never betray his friends like that.

Not now and not ever.

The buzzer rang as the female announcer spoke.

"The winners of match thirteen are, Iori Sei and Reiji, representing Japan's 3rd block."

The duo looked at each other with beaming smiles before exchanging high fives.

"Sei-han! Reiji-han! Congratulations! That was astounding! Truly amazing!" Mao gushed as the duo walked into the waiting room, not noticing the wary glances shot their way.

"Thank you!" Sei grinned, still hyped up from the high of victory.

"Sorry for missing your matches." Reiji apologized, "We'll look at them later, we promise."

"You haven't missed everything." Fellini smiled. "Your rude chibi friend is in the final round and PPSE's works team is up next."

Kas-Al was too worked up to retort and although under normal circumstances the others would have noticed his strange lack of response, they were too antsy to realize something was strange with the Knight-Captain.

"PPSE?" Reiji had a confused look on his face.

"The creators of the Gunpla Battle system, my liege."

And the company in charge of the Plavsky Particles, the knight noted in his thoughts.

"They're the ones that know the most about the Plavsky Particle." Mao continued before recalling the Sinanju Armoire's reaction with the particles from the fight by at the beach inn. "Probably."

"And the one piloting their gunpla is the Meijin." Fellini turned to the screen. "The third generation Meijin Kawaguchi."

"Third generation?" Kas-Al asked in confusion.

"Meijin…" Sei's eyes were glued to the screen.

"...Kawaguchi?" Reiji finished.

Yuuki Tatsuya was dressed in a blue PPSE battle costume with matching high-tech sunglasses mask, his hair pulled back, which he only did for gunpla battles.

"But that's…"

"It is…"

"Yuuki-sempai… but what's he doing here?"

Kawaguchi approached the battle system with powerful strides before turning to the camera with a stance of absolute confidence and victory.

The announcer gave some information about the Meijin in the shameless self-advertising ways PPSE was known for before Meijin Kawaguchi turned to the battle system and set down his GP Base.

His supporter and the designer and builder of the PPSE gunpla, Allan Adams smiled at the Meijin, handing him his gunpla.

"The Kampfer Amazing, an accumulation of all the data and knowledge of PPSE's works team. This is its first battle so let's show them how 'Amazing' it is, Meijin."

The third Meijin sighed.

"You've been waiting for days to say that, haven't you?"

"Weeks." Allen replied with a small smirk, getting into position. "I'm hoping for battle results worthy of the Meijin's title."

"Then there is no need to hope." Mejin Kawaguchi stated, setting down his gunpla. "For a Meijin… victory is just the absolute minimum requirement."

The blond man smirked at hearing that.

The Kampfer's eyecam glinted with a powerful, deep pink as it launched into the tundra stage, its thrust kicking up the powdery snow.

A blue F91 Harrison Martin custom was the first to spot the original version of the Kampfer.

"I don't care if you're on the works team or not!" the pilot, a male representative from one of the smaller eastern European countries, roared as he fired his beam rifle.

The Kampfer glided to the side, eyecam glowing and leaving a trail in the air before it came to a powerful and almost immediate stop, raising its rifle to take aim at the F91 which raised its beam shield and when not fired upon it was emboldened, dropping altitude as well as the shield to fire again.

It was what the Meijin had expected as it simply hopped out of the way and countering it with its own rifle's powerful green beam, shutting the machine down as its momentum carried it beyond the dark navy Zeon mobile suit, exploding into a stack of fire and smoke.

A GM Cold Districts Type arrived to see the F91 get downed as it drew a beam saber, about to charge in for melee combat, only to be surprised by the Kampfer to dash out of the smoke, a heat combat knife, aka Amazing Knife, burying itself in the GM's head causing a systems failure.

The Kampfer Amazing took a step back removing the blade and fired twice with its rifle, leaving almost nothing left of its torso.

A lavender painted GN-X oversaw this with a sense of fear, before the fighter threw all caution to the wind detaching its GN rifle's long barrel attachment for rapid fire capabilities only to be shot down before any of its shots could even hit the snow.

The battle system ended the match.

The viewers went wild with the Meijin's skill as they roared out with praises and cheering.

"That was absolute perfection!" Allan laughed, getting a nod from the Mejin.

In waiting room B, Mao stared intently at the screen in surprise.

"His strength is like a monsters." he jokes weakly.

"He fights as if he only cares about being the champion." Fellini rubbed his stubbly chin with excitement, "Reiji, how would you…"

"My liege and Sei-dono left as soon as the match ended."

"Huh? Why?"

Mao turned to the closing door.

"Reiji-han! Sei-han! Where are you going?!" he cried out to deaf ears.

"It can't be helped." Kas-Al stated as he turned to leave as well. "I do not presume to know what the title Meijin entails, but that man was also once Yuuki Tatsuya, Sei-dono's friend and Reiji's rival."

As Kas-Al left to head for the stage for his first fight of the World Tournament, Fellini sat back and laughed.

"The Crimson Comet, huh? Hope he doesn't mind you seemingly take the wind out of his old title, phantom-kun."

"This will be the final round of the first period of the Seventh Gunpla Battle World Tournament. Now presenting your fighters. Presenting the Irish representative, Jason McDougal, the Celtic Bezerker and his gunpla, the MSM-08 Zogok. Presenting the Dutch representative, Amalia Bosbrouwer, no title, and her gunpla, NZ-666 Kshatriya custom, the Kshatriya Hailflower. Presenting the Nigerian representative, Christos Eze, the Big Sun, and his gunpla, the XMXG-01SRX3 Sandrock Crossbone. And lastly representing Japan's fourth block, Kas-Al Biaggi, the Red Phantom of Zeon, and his gunpla, the GNAK-Y903FT Stormslayer Susanowo."

"Please set your GP Base." the machine intoned.

"Beginning Plavsky Particle dispersal."

Kas-Al rolled his neck and cracked his knuckles.

If he had to wait any longer he might just go crazy.

"Field 5: City. Please set your gunpla."

Mao watched from his seat with serious and focused attention.

"As I thought. His second gunpla was a custom Susanowo after all, judging from the changes to the model type and number, I can tell it's got original parts and changes to it."

The screen showed the four reps place their gunpla down, a beautifully made Zogok with additional armor and thrusters, a Kshatriya with an ice blue paintjob with an original design for the four funnel holding 'wings', X-3 Crossbone with Sandrock limbs and both machine's weapons, and Kas-Al's hybrid Susanowo/Brave with original armor changes and touch-ups, painted in a metallic red with black accents, the white portions of the original Susanowo as it was.

"Is that… the Brave's two GN Drive Taus alongside a GN Drive?" Fellini marveled. "How did he get that to work without the gunpla overloading? Interesting…"

"Battle start."

"Kas-Al Biaggi! Stormslayer Susanowo! FOR THE GLORY OF HOUSE ASUNA!"

The crimson and black gunpla shot forward, flying faster than the launch pad from a standing stance.

"What the! WHAT SPEED!" the announcer yelled in excitement as the Susanowo weaved through the many skyscrapers without losing speed. "What mobility! Are those even turns anymore?!"

Mao gaped, eyes wide.

"...How… the GN-Drives… that can't be a Tau! Those particles are green!"

"Could it be… a triple GN-Drive system… on such a small machine?" Fellini did not realize that he had risen to his feet.

The Sandrock Crossbone was the first to spot the angry red machine.

"Sorry, little boy. But you're going home to your mommy!" the Nigerian representative declared, twin swords raised.

Suddenly it found itself without arms and legs.

"WHAT?!" the pilot gasped.

The Susanowo grabbed the signature Crossbone thruster back-back before tearing it off with one arm, the other firmly grasping the back of the Sandrock Crossbone's helmet.

"Funnels! I'm taking the both of you out!"

The Dutch representative had appeared, firing off funnels from her ice-like wing binders.

The Susanowo suddenly burst with light as the black reddened; the red glowed, wispy trails of crimson orange-gold Plavsky Particles wafted off of it, the white turned a glossy reddish pink.

And shot forward with the large body of the Crossbone still in hand, a crimson streak, even faster than before, even with the additional weight crashing through the launching funnels and used the remains of the gunpla of the 'Big Sun' as a giant hammer at the wing binder's weaker connecting joints, tearing them off the Kshatriya Hailflower.

"TRANS-AMMMMMMMMMMM! AND WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT SPEED?! NOT ONLY THAT, BUT IT APPEARS TO HAVE NOT JUST ONE, NOT EVEN THE POWERFUL TWO, BUT AN UNPRECEDENTED THREE GN-DRIVES! Look at the green GN trail! That isn't a Tau drive! This is incredible!"

"Monster!" the female Dutchwoman cried out as she tried to gain grown by backing up.

Crashing into an unmoving object.

Quickly she turned her gunpla about, thinking that she had accidently crashed into a building to find that the Stormslayer Susanowo in all its Trans-Am glory

"How?!"

She turned again to see the Susanowo also where it had destroyed two of her wing binders.

Her alert system sounded again as the Susanowo behind her shattered the wing-binders directly, spearing the giant shield wings with its bare hands and grabbing the Kshatriya's right arm, crushing it with sheer hand pressure.

"No! Get back!"

And the Susanowo melted into orange-gold particles, the wing binders crashing to the ground.

"What? I don't-"

She was interrupted as a shot from the modified Brave Commander's GN-Rifle from the Susanowo floating above it melted the entirety of its upper torso, the Trans-Am quadrupling the rifle's already powerful output.

The Irish representative shook in fear.

Right as he was about to declare his forfeit, the Susanowo seemed to teleport, appearing upside-down in front of the Zogok.

He let out a squeal of fear as he backed up, only to be stopped by another Susanowo that grasped the gunpla's backpack and not budging an inch.

Two more Susanowo seemed to blur into existence, surrounding the Zogok from all sides.

As one held the struggling gunpla in place the other three drew their right arms back, the orange-gold light of the Fay Tear derivative Plavsky Particles drew into the right hands, each of them straightening into a spear hand and a decorative dragon head appeared to form over it, the eyes shining a deep purple as it gazed at the Zogok with a hungry growl.

"You're not the only one… who reached one of the Fay Tear's pinnacles… SEI-DONO!

Kas-Al's smile was absolutely blood thirsty, his vision red and blurred from adrenaline.

"Taste the power of Tas-Ur Tiazam, the spirit of infinity! The original lanceman! And his light-splitting dragon-lance, LAKSUR KAOCHU!"

As the three hands shot forward, the arena was engulfed in light and the battle machine called out the end of the match. The light died down and the crowd could catch a glimpse of the devastation right before the machine cut off the flow of Plavsky Particles.

"...The only place with buildings left were the edges of the field…" Fellini gasped.

"...As I thought… Kas-Al-han… he knows something about the Plavsky Particle that only the Second Mejin knew…" Mao gripped his hands hard.

The crowd's cheers shook the stadium, the announcer unable to make his voice heard over the commotion.

Kas-Al picked up his GP Base and gunpla before leaving the stage.

As he walked back to the waiting room he collapsed in an empty hallway, gasping for air.

"I pushed that too far." he chuckled darkly as he looked at his Susanowo.

There was a crackling noise as the right arm crumbled into plastic dust.

"So it needs to be much higher quality if I want to use that more than once… dammit… after I finally managed to make the frame be able to handle Tiazam's power…"

He winced as he put the gunpla away into his case, holding his left arm.

"Tsk. I have to wash up first." he muttered as he headed into a nearby bathroom, a trail of blood dripping from his right arm. "I can't do anything about the backlash still… And here I thought I had fixed that problem at the very least.

He was glad that although his jacket wasn't completely silver anymore, at least his sleeves were black.

He pulled off his armor and peeled back his clothing. Running warm water from the tap, he pulled a thick roll of bandages from his pockets as he dabbed at his arm with paper towels. Barely even cringing at the needles of pain that shot through his arm as he did so, he dampened more paper towels in the warm running water and dabbed at the arm before carefully drying it off, applying a salve that he always carried with him in a small container that hid inside one of his pieces of armor. Wrapping the gauze bandages around, using multiple layers as red seeped through the sterile white, he sighed in relief.

"Thine recklessness begets thee, Knight-Captain Kas-Al Biaggi."

The teen's eye widened as he turned to the bathroom door.

"...Ranger-Knight Savenne. I assume you enjoyed that display."

A platinum blonde with a short pixie-like hair cut smiled, gazing at the injured Knight-Captain with silver eyes. She was dressed in green and black clothes which clung seductively to her lithe and feline frame. Her armor was made of leather with metal crosses that criss-crossed the material, designed to stop any weapon or arrow from piercing or cutting her open and metal chainmail was discreetly sewn in to protect vital areas that the armor itself did not already protect.

"Greatly so. I was in awe as a fellow devotee of Tas-Ur Tiazam. I hath feared for an instant that thy would have reached for _that_ power, but I was greatly pleased to see the route thy hath decided for thyself."

The boy glared as the blonde involuntarily shivered.

"I am _not_ my father. Nor shall I ever be, no matter how much my blood calls for it."

"I understand, my lord. Thine convictions art clear to mine eyes."

Kas-Al sighed as he pulled his clothes back on and began strapping on his armor, pausing slightly as the Ranger lent him a hand.

"You should try to adapt a little more to the speech patterns of the indigenous people, Squire Savenne. Don't rangers pride themselves on their ability to blend in?"

She pouted.

"I haven't been a squire since you recommended me for knighthood, milord."

"I'm not your teacher anymore. There's no need to call me your lord."

The blonde giggled as she finished buckling the armor in, recalling how she did so for many years.

"The only other master I serve is our king, milord. Who you likely did not inform of your accomplishments. You could be a Paladin-General with what you've awakened to."

"I serve my liege. That is enough for me."

He looked at her through the mirror with serious eyes.

"So? What will you do?"

The Ranger-Knight smiled.

"I will serve thee, milord. Before the king, thy held my loyalty first, and that is true even now."

Kas-Al laughed deeply at this.

"What a terrible knight you are, Lady Savenne! Ha ha ha! However, I appreciate this. I do not wish inconvenience upon my liege or his partner, Sei-dono. Thank you, my lady." he smiled sincerely, a very rare occurrence.

"I-if thee so suddenly treat me as your equal, I find myself not knowing how to respond, my lord." the young woman blushed. "It is acceptable to refer to me as thy hath always done."

"I had no idea you were so partial to that old name."

"Savenne might be the name granted to me by the king after entering his service, but yours was my first name after saving me from the cruel streets of the Kadlien Empire, milord."

"That is true. I thank you for both your loyalty and service, Lillianne."

The blonde smiled with tinted cheeks.

Her savior looked best with a smile.

End

AN2: WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO that was fun to write.

So… NEW ARIAN and more backstory! lols. Wonder how Melinda will take the new competition?

Keep reading the Knight-Captain of Arian! Review, share, and check out my other works!

If you didn't read my first Author's Note (If you didn't realize what AN meant), I am currently working on an actual replica of the Stormslayer Sunsanowo! Once it's complete, I'll make a small video of it and post it up on my YouTube channel, so please come check it out! Or subscribe now to see it later, one or the other.

Thank you for reading!


	9. Bring A Bigger Army

AN: Good news and bad news guys - let's go with the good news first. I finished a custom gunpla and one of our chibi-knight's own designs! However! It's not the Stormslayer Susanowo. Nor the Sinanju. So sneak peak at the third suit is up on my Youtube Channel! It's already the cover photo for the fanfic.

While I'm home for spring break, I stopped by at a great little hobby store, but they didn't have either the Susanowo or Brave Commander. But I saw an opportunity anyways and picked up the AGE FX and the AGE Fortress. STOP. Don't stop reading my story just because I used an AGE gunpla! Please! lols.

There's another reason for it: AGE has no representation in GBF at all. That and the AGE-2 gundams and the AGE FX are actually pretty decent looking. Especially the AGE-2 Dark Hound. That thing gives me CHILLS its so damn SEXY! I did it both out of fairness and because I feel like I'm slowly thinking of pulling too much 00 into this story just because it's my favorite gundam series sans Build Fighters.

My concern is that I may not be able to build the Stormslayer at all, as the more I look at the pictures of the gunpla for the two, the less compatibilities I can see myself manipulating. I will still give it a try, obviously.

I'm just concerned :X

Gorgas's OC has been entered and Code-Emperor07's gunpla has been modified for the story but still needs an OC or I'll make it myself. OCs are still welcome, doesn't matter if its just

Begin

"I assume that you met with Yuuki Tatsuya, Sei-dono. Reiji." Kas-Al said as he entered the waiting room. "Did it satisfy you?"

The competitors were to return to the waiting room to receive an assignment number for the second period of the Gunpla Battle World Tournament.

"Yeah, but I missed the first minute of your match. How did you manage to make such a powerful Trans-Am?" Sei asked excitedly. "The Stormslayer didn't even have a backpack unit to regulate the dual drive system like the 00 Raiser and you had three!"

"I would tell you, Sei-dono, but I've found that I'm still far from complete." Kas-Al opened his case as he handed Sei the Stormslayer Susanowo.

Mao, Reiji, and Fellini quickly huddled around it to hide it from view of the other representatives while looking for themselves.

"Man, that thing's gone!" Reiji's brows shot up into his bangs.

The right arm had gone, but the socket for the shoulder was shredded and torn as if small gnomes with power sanders and chainsaws had tried to make a home there and hairline fractures extended throughout the frame.

"I can't believe that it performed that well with this much damage." Fellini stared at the wreckage of black plastic. "What was holding this together, children's hopes and dreams?" he prodded the gunpla's head lightly.

It split in two and fell to the ground.

"It appears the drunk can so easily kill children's hopes and dreams. How fearsome."

Reiji burst out laughing as Mao and Sei politely tried not to join in at Kas-Al's joke, who looked as serious as usual, making it hard to tell if the boy was joking or not.

But honestly, it was more likely the flow of Plavsky Particles due to Trans-Am that the Susanowo did not fall apart as the GN-styled Plavsky Particles moved through the frame, both shredding and 'stitching' it together as it moved about.

"I know it's not kind of me to say this, but I'm a little relieved that the Susanowo can't sustain that level of power." Mao admitted with a somewhat bashful grin. "I'm a little doubtful whether I could have survived that assault myself."

"It is, perhaps, a little hard to defend against."

"He he, now I wanna fight this thing! Fix it quickly so I can fight it, Kas!"

There were a few terrified cries of "NO!" throughout the room.

"I likely will not have it ready for combat for another few days. However, my third gunla is almost complete. Knowing now what failed in the Susanowo, I now know how to make the final modifications to it. I am eager to try it out. I should be able to finish it by tonight, however, I forsee myself saving it for later in the tournament. Please, look forward to it, my liege."

Reiji grinned as he slung an arm over his friend's shoulder, who forced himself not to cringe in pain.

"Alright! Let's have some fun when it comes around then. The Star Build Strike won't lose to you, you know." he grinned as Sei chuckled a little nervously.

"We shall see, my liege."

Contestants were soon called out by name and the country or country block that they represented, each were handed a number and told to spend the rest of the day doing as they will.

"Man, we had to wait forever." Mao whined.

Reiji nodded, yawning.

"Why the heck was Japan the last country called? We should have been first." the redhead groaned in irritation as he, Mao, Sei, and Kas-Al left the room.

"It's great that there are so many people for us to fight against, but there really was better ways they could have handed out the numbers for the second period." Sei admitted as well.

The other Japanese representatives left just after the four, keeping their distance from the powerful fighters that proved to have the ability to become top contenders. At least for the most part. One of the other Japanese reps kept walking closer as if trying to say something, before nervously shuffling back.

After a point Kas-Al turned to the straggling fighter.

"Yes?" he asked, garnering the attention of the other boys. "May we help you?"

"Ah, uhm. Hi."

"...Hello." the knight blinked.

"Yeah, I'm also a Japanese rep. My name is Ishimaru Hatsuchi, the representative of Block 2. My, uh, my sister asked if I could get an autograph from you, Biaggi-san."

"Autograph?..." Kas-Al turned to Reiji who shrugged, then at Mao and Sei. "What's an autograph?"

"It's your signature. You must have a fan, Kas-Al-han." Mao laughed.

"Ah, is that so? Not a problem."

"Ah thank you. She'd have given me a bit of a verbal thrashing if I had not gotten it when you were so close to me. Sorry for the trouble."

"Like I stated, it's not an issue. We're both Japanese representatives, yes?"

"Ah, thank you."

"Ah! I remember you! You're the guy with the green and gray custom Ez8. You seem different than you looked on camera, Hasuchi-han."

"A-already on first name basis?" the older teen sweatdropped nervously. "I've been told that when I start a fight I become much more aggressive, Yasaka-san, was it?"

"Feel free to call me Mao." the Kansai boy grinned.

Sei perked up at recalling Hasuchi's gunpla.

"I was quite impressed by your Ez8. It was like an exaggerated version of the Ez8's already patchwork spirit!" he smiled. "Modified collar armor hiding the lower half of the face, modified helmet moving the antenna further back and adding another to make symmetry with an added plate to increase the armor of the helmet's skull, the EW Heavy Arm's Kai's shoulders and side skirts on a modified hip piece, the Astray Red Frame's flight pack with the Hellscythe's ECM jammer built into it for flight, the Amatsu Mina's extendable claw anchors on the right arm! A heavily modified shield that has a beam scythe stored inside as well as heat prongs at the bottom. I couldn't believe your Ez8 could pick it up with the lightened frame! You sanded down the armor for streamlining and speed, right? It'd be too heavy to fly otherwise with all the heavier modifications added to it."

"...Breathe, Sei-dono."

"Ah, yes. I'm impressed you could tell that much from a three minute match. I wasn't shown on the screen so much until I took out the last two contenders at once. My Ezen Berevn can't really compare to your Star Build Strike, though."

"No, no, it was great! I feel like I was watching an AU version of the Ez8 of how it would have ended up after surviving the explosion after it managed to shoot down the Apsalus III! I was moved!"

Sei had quickly watched all the matches that he had missed while waiting for his number call.

It had taken quite a while.

"The OVA season of the 08th MS Team was actually the first Gundam series I watched as a kid. Ever since then the Ez8 has been my favorite. I've actually never made any other gunpla other than a few Zakus for practice actually. The Ezen Berevn is actually more like the Ezen Berevn Mk-IX."

"Eb9, a successor to the Ez8?" Mao laughed cheerfully as the older teen pulled his green hood over his head in embarrassment, the metallic red swirls detailing it glinting as the cloth moved.

"Something like that. And, uh, thank you again, Biaggi-san." the Eb9's fighter bowed before quickly shuffling off.

"He seemed a lot more aggressive on screen. He seems like a nice guy though." Sei smiled.

He had also liked the 08th MS Team series, after all.

And it's always nice meeting a fellow enthusiast.

"Seiiiii, let's go get food already. It's afternoon and we missed breakfast." Reiji complained, shaking the blue haired boy out of his thoughts.

"And I wish to get out of this monkey costume." Kas-Al added, pulling at the cosplay clothing, "I also have someone to meet after this."

"Ah, are you going to meet up with Melinda-san?" Sei asked with a smile, he hoped the two got together, even if the short teen's height might become an issue later down the line.

"Yes, but first I'm seeing my old apprentice."

"Apprentice?" Mao asked as Reiji's eyes widened.

"Wait… you mean…"

"Ah. There she is. I shall see you three later." Kas-Al nodded as he walked off, his blonde former squire waving at the petit teen happily from a distance.

Mao stared.

"How does he do it?" the boy sighed, wishing Misaki had come to see him compete.

On the other hand, Reiji recalled how much he had once fought with the clingy and easily jealous blonde as kids and rather than wondering just how she was in this world, he simply recalled how irritated she used to make him as a small kid.

His sisters had fought often with the blonde as well, though that was for different reasons.

Regardless of it all, Kas-Al had promised the blonde lunch for keeping secrets from the king. It was a small thing, considering that if they were found out, he would likely be executed and she might be sold off as a slave, but Lillianne Sevanne seemed overjoyed at the offer.

Of course he would still owe her even after the meal.

The lunch went well enough for the Knight-Captain as he introduced Lillianne to the delicious yet simple joys of pizza. Having money and no idea on what to spend it on other than gunpla and food, he had take her to a much more legitimate pizza place.

He smiled softly as the pretty blonde dressed in casual clothes, to blend in better with the crowd, although she stuck out quite a bit with her looks, eagerly took dainty, yet efficient bites with great joy.

Her favorite food was cheese, Kas-Al remembered, and he knew that she'd have appreciated pizza. When he and Reiji first had it the third time they had visited Earth, they had found a pizza lunch buffet and almost eaten the little chain restaurant out of stock.

After the thoroughly satisfying meal, they took a walk near the beachside as Lillianne told her not so old teacher about the current events in Arian and how quickly an attack from a nomadic war tribe had been shut down by the new weapons tech they derived from gunpla.

Like the easily portable beam sabers, or the powerful and armor rending GN blades.

However, lacking the means to transport large amounts of gunpla kits to Arian as well those with the skills to properly build their weapons, as well as build them at a high enough quality to make proper weapons, as they ran out of power quickly.

Though it seemed that the Ranger-Knights seemed to be having a field day after learning about the sniper rifle.

Once again the problem came to be that he lacked knights with the skill to craft a high enough quality piece. Although Kas-Al could have, he was worlds away, so to speak. The king also knew that Kas-Al felt uneasy making too many great military tech advancements too quickly and did not want to burden him unnecessarily.

However, like Reiji, the king also seemed to have found an interest in Gunpla Battle. Though expensive, he had made the Knight-Captain go out and buy a Gunpla Battle machine and bring it to Arian for observational purposes. The king, after seeing first hand what gunpla was and what it could do wanted to try using the Fay Tears to make a human sized one that could be worn or even a full sized mobile suit. Trying out the system for himself, he had mused that it was a very interesting battle simulator and found himself remembering his youth when he had been a knight and leading battles, favoring the Tallgeese in particular. His wife and Reiji's mother had been from Zankrine, which shared the Tallgeese's greco-roman armor designs, where he had met her in battle and decided to make her his.

Lillianne giggled as she told him that it was actually serving as a good method for the king and queen to battle out their issues without causing huge amounts of damage to the castle. Though they loved each other dearly, the mother being quite a ball of tsundere-crazy, they had arguments over the silliest things before at night they would end the issue with loud 'bedroom dancing.'

The rooms of the children of the royal couple were moved far away from that of their parents a _long_ time ago.

Kas-Al could only imagine that the reason that they couldn't make the weapons from the gunpla kits work in full size might be more likely due to the somewhat selfish king and queen taking the higher quality pieces for themselves to fight each other.

There was a part of him that wished that the queen would be more honest about her feelings and that the king would be more mindful of the things he said.

Reiji had both of those negative traits and so he got a daily dose of that every day. He didn't need the headache of the Royal Guard calling him in to diffuse their silly arguments simply because for some convoluted reason the members of House Asuna liked to listen to the young knight.

While this was a godsend to the other members of the castle staff and guard, it also meant that Kas-Al had the most work to do at all times.

After the leisurely walk, Kas-Al apologized for having to leave. He had promised to meet up with Melinda and finish his final gunpla for the world tournament.

The problem lied in the fact that he had used paint that he made himself for the third model as it was important for stabilizing the powers of the Tears for what he intended. One of the colors that he made just refused to work right, but it was necessary for the spirit embodiment theory that his mastery of Fay Tears relied upon.

He rebuilt the Susanowo after meeting up with Melinda and the rest of the van Holsens who congratulated him on his victory. Though they had seen the Susanowo in use before, that was before he had created the upgraded features and modified his gunpla to be able to handle the strain.

Or rather, begin to handle it, if his broken and battered Susanowo was any indication.

Ian had suggested that he doesn't let too many people know of the Susanowo's destruction, but Kas-Al simply told the man that it didn't matter much to him. After all, the Susanowo had shown him what he needed to fix by using it at full power and he would be able to perfect his third gunpla.

After he and the van Holsen family had a dinner outing together, though with the slight irritation of curious fans buzzing about, Kas-Al returned to his room at the fighter's village, Melinda coming along to watch and help him work.

Ian wanted to come along, the protective father he was, but his wife simply pulled at the man's ear as he told the two to not cross any lines.

Kas-Al had told him that if that was what he desired, he would make sure to do so, but Milinda seemed annoyed by the fact.

"Wow, the Susanowo really got obliterated. It looked fine on screen." Melinda stared in a somewhat horrified wonder as she looked at the wrecked copy of the red, black, and white gunpla. "I can't believe that it would just crumble afterwards. It's like an anime."

"Hmmm. The Stormslayer Susanowo Mk-II is almost done though. Just needs a modified GN drive and weapons. I'm thinking that I keep just one beam rifle and just upgrade its output and firing rate rather than adding all the extra features on it like I had before. Instead I'm going to keep the original GN blades of the Susanowo for melee weapon coverage and change up the torso some when I find the time. I'm more concerned with making the Brave's GN Rifle more barrel warped from the shot I made during Trans-Am."

"Too many additions interferes with the integrity of a piece." Melinda nodded sagely.

Kas-Al finished his final gunpla with a little topcoat before flopping down on his bed tiredly.

"Fighting is one thing, but building gunpla might be the hardest part of Gunpla Battle as far as I'm concerned." he groaned.

"It might have helped if you used normal paint." Melinda giggled as she laid down next to him "You're just the stubborn one that has to have everything exactly your way. The purple just didn't mix with that metallic silver base as well as it could have. It had a cool weathered look to it though."

"I suppose. I'll test it tomorrow after the second period alongside the Susanowo to test their functionality."

"Compared to the testing in battle that you did today?"

Melinda giggled as she snuggled next to the smaller teen, pulling him closer to her.

"...Melinda-sama, I think if your father saw us now, he'd kill me."

"Aww I wouldn't let him. You're too cute to die."

"...I am a man. I am not cute."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that. I'm sleepy. G'night."

"Melinda-sama?! You can't sleep here! I… you're already asleep…" Kas-Al sighed, unable to pull out of her firm grip. "...Civilians…"

"Civilians, hmm? Fraternizing with civilians now?"

"Lilianne?" Kas-Al blinked at the blonde who had appeared on the balcony.

Lilianne picked the lock and entered the room before giving her former teacher a surly look.

"Who is she?"

"...She's Melinda-sama, the daughter of the sponsor that is supporting me for the tournament."

"So thou art seducing his daughter?"

"Seducing? What are you talking about? She's the one that grabbed onto me and fell asleep. I did nothing."

"Is that so? In that case, I have not yet slept in a bed of this world and I would like to see how comfortable it is." she quickly and quietly took off her outer wear, Kas-Al quickly turned his head, blushing.

He was wearing some silk pajamas that Ian's wife had bought for him as a present, so he could feel every movement of his fellow knight slipping under the covers as she laid down next to him.

He did his best to shut down every inappropriate thought about her that popped into his head because even though she was actually three years older than he, Kas-Al had taken her in and practically raised her.

He felt a little shame that he couldn't fully ignore the curves of her body as she cuddled in closer as she sighed happily, commenting on the quality of the sheets and mattress.

It was the longest and most sleepless night of his life.

It was a stroke of good fortune for him that Lilianne had to leave early in the morning to do something that the king had asked of her, so that he didn't have to explain to the sleeping and oblivious brunette how a third sleeping person had gotten into their bed.

He could only imagine the chaos that would have ensued if she had woken up first.

It had taken him hours of squirming and blushing to twist out of the brunette's grip, only to find himself in the blonde's, much to Lilianne's quiet pleasure. Kas-Al grabbed a fresh set of his battle outfit as well as his armor, moving efficiently, but as quietly as possible to not wake the sleeping girl by clanking the metal plates of his armor together.

After freshening up with a quick shower and getting dressed, Kas-Al gently woke up Melinda with a smile as she grumbled about her Seravee and Seraphim refusing to get along with one another.

He shook her again, a tad more firmly, the girl waking from her dazed dreams as she reached up with both arms, pulling Kas-Al in closer, shoving his face into her ample bosom, much to the boy's embarrassment and suffocation.

It had taken roughly an hour to wake the girl, but afterwards the two quickly grabbed some food at the fighter's village's cafeteria, meeting Reiji, Sei, and Mao and having some food as they talked about what they thought that today's fight was going to be about.

It didn't matter, however, as the match was different than what the teens had anticipated.

"We'll now explain the second period of the World Tournament. In the second period, we'll use the grand Gunpla Battle tournament stadium to for a Battle Royal with all 116 fighters. The battle ends when only one third of the fighters are left standing. All surviving fighters will earn four points. Any fighter that takes down five enemy gunpla will gain an additional two points. The fighter with the most kills will earn three extra points. All contestants will take their place as the number assigned to them yesterday. We will now begin the second period event."

"Please set your GP Base."

Kas-Al was currently situated far from Mao as well as the Sei-Reiji duo and he sighed in irritation. Many people were likely to try to gang up on him and he was far from any potential help. Perfect.

"Sinanju Armoire. Kas-Al Biaggi. For the glory of House Asuna!"

The Sinanju launched out of the gate, finding itself submerged underwater.

"Hoh? This is not my field of expertise. Time to leave."

A green amphibious hand suddenly reached out to grasp the Sinanju's head, only for a shield to get in its way and the beam axes reaching out to damage the large froggish hand.

"Sorry. You've bitten off more than you could chew there. Find some weaker prey." Kas-Al spoke over the public channel to the Renato brothers, who were the ones in the green MSM-03C Hygogg.

The Sinanju burst out of the water to rise into the sky and up towards space, as it was primarily a space-use mobile suit.

It spun dodging a shot from a Wing Gundam in the distance with a sniper-attuned buster rifle.

Kas-Al grinned as he spun the Sinanju, the left rifle's optics swiveling into the sniper setting, shooting straight into the Wing Gundam's scope and the cockpit. The shield generators went online as it blocked blows from a Verde Buster Gundam and a Gouf Flight Type, the beams splashing harmlessly against the Plavsky Particle barrier.

The barrier fell as the shield fired rocket grenades, scattering the two foes as the orbiting shields launched out, impaling the gunpla with the beam-axes inside.

Above him a glossy orange Virtue readied its GN Bazooka, setting it into burst mode before readying to fire with its quasi Trans-Am boost.

In a flash of red, the Sinanju Armoire weaved around the GN blast before taking the legs and arms from the machine.

"Interesting. Let me borrow this." Kas-Al chuckled as it locked the GN bazooka into place, turning the flightless Virtue about and blasting at other contestants that got nearby. "I should preserve my power supply as much as possible after all. Think of it like being a turret."

It let go of the huge armored gunpla as a series of rapid-fire beam blasts buried into the gunpla.

"...Or another shield. That works too, I suppose. I didn't think that you'd be so eager to face off against me, Ishimaru-san."

The comm channel opened up to show Ishimaru Hatsuchi with a grin.

"Sorry, Biaggi-san. I'd be stupid to think I can beat you so easily. In fact, I'd rather ask you to partner with me instead... but Ezen Berevn and I… WE CAN'T RESIST A FIGHT IN THE END!"

The Eb9 wasn't fast, but it seemed that the Deathscythe's Hyper Jammer ECM made it so that the Sinanju's automatic systems could not detect the patchwork gunpla, as well as make the auto-lock system become fail.

The Sinanju twisted to avoid more fire from the Eb9's rifle before firing back with right rifle at maximum power, a yellow beam with more power than a hyper mega launcher filling the air. The Eb9 twisted out of the way, storing its beam rifle in its back skirt before pulling a beam scythe out of its Ap-A shield, stabbing with the heat prongs at the bottom before turning to cut with the scythe.

Kas-Al deftly twisted away from the first before striking with a beam blade from its shoulder armor, cutting off the Eb9's right hand as if with a bladed beam elbow strike, then kicking the older style mobile suit downwards.

"I'm not ready to face you at all still, eh, Biaggi?! But I'm not leaving without a prize!"

The golden claws on the right forearm taken from the Amatsu Mina had been undamaged from the beam attack and it extended before the plastic itself extended like a whip. wrapping around the Sinanju Armoire's left foot, much to Kas-Al's surprise. It would have landed higher, taking the whole leg, but the knight had shot back reflexively, and there was a terrible tearing sound as the foot was torn up as it popped off the double jointed polycap ankle.

"I wanted your leg, but I'll satisfy myself with this!"

"HA HA HA! Take it! I'll make sure to pay you back in full next time we fight, Hasuchi-dono!"

"I won't be sated with just a foot next time, Kas-Al! You better be ready!"

The Eb9 fell back to the ground, the golden claws now back to normal size and buried into the Sinanju foot, like a giant hammer arm, the flight pack cooling, as the unit had not been made for space use or sustained flight.

Kas-Al turned to shoot a blue Deathscythe that tried to sneak up on him in the confusion of it all.

"Well, it'd be bothersome to head into space with my missing foot. The heat would wear at the inside of the leg itself causing unneeded damage. What a troublesome situation. In that case, I should find cover. I'm simply standing in open space at the moment. It's inconvenient."

A group of four other mobile suits flew in from his left, firing at the crimson gunpla as a shield barrier simply burst forth from an orbiting shield.

"Don't think we'll let you go so easily now that you're injured!"

"Ya don' have yeur ridiculous Susanowo this time! I'll show you all aboot fear!" the Irish representative led the way in a Sword Impulse Gundam, the frame painted green and gold.

"I didn't need the Stormslayer to fight someone of your level in the first place. Don't think so lowly of me."

The Sinanju sored the left beam rifle into one of the orbiting shields and fired it off like an armored and bladed big before flicking out the beam saber in its forearm and flinging it upwards.

"Ha! The hell do you think you're hitting?" A R-Jarja approached with sword drawn, "So much for the Red Phantom of Zeon!"

"Is that so?"

The Sinanju twisted as it kicked the R-Jarja into the GN-X behind it as the beam saber struck down, piercing the two gunplas as they fell down to the earth below.

"No!" Another competitor cried out, trying to dive and save the doomed two only to be shot in the waist joint by the Sinanju, splitting the frame in two, and then being beheaded by a speeding weaponized orbital shield.

"So it's you and me now… who are you again?"

"Jason McDougal, Irish representative. I'll have your head, Kas-Al Biaggi!"

The Sword Impulse launched forwards with impressive speed, dodging two shots, three rocket grenades, and the two bladed orbiting shields, reaching close enough to behead the Zeon mobile suit.

"Not bad controls. Very powerful… HOWEVER!"

The Sinanju spun, the Excalibur anti-ship blades passing overhead as Kas-Al cut off the thrust before jabbing upwards with his other rifle, the barrel jamming into the neck joint.

"If you want to destroy me… If you wish for my destruction… to lord over me with victory in your grasp!" he fired once, melting the head as the suit flew backwards.

"BRING!" he cried as the Impulse's pilot roared, trying to swing the blades into the Sinanju.

"A BIGGER!" the two orbiting shields buried themselves into the Impulse from both sides like giant crimson and black pincers with their extended beam-axes.

"ARMY!"

The shields retreated as the rifle fired at max power, leaving next to no trace of the green Sword Impulse.

"AMAZING!" the announcer crowed, "The Quebeley Papillion and the Sinanju Armoire are currently tied for the most kills! Now this is a World Tournament, folks! And look! In the eastern land quadrant is the Gaw Attack Carrier about to crush the Wing Gundam Fenice! Things look grim for the Italian Dand-OH WHAT'S THIS?! THE GAW IS DOWN! I REPEAT THE GAW IS DOWN! It appears that the champion of Japan's fifth block, hailing from the Kansai region, is Yasaka Mao's Gundam X Maoh with its hyper satellite cannon! THIS IS AMAZING! What a great moment of teamwork between him and Iori Sei and Reiji's Star Build Strike! Wait… what's this? The ground is shaking! No… Out of nowhere a MS-06F Zaku II Mega Size has taken to the stage?! Who could be piloting this? Did we see a fighter with this in the beginning of the match? And it seems to be gunning for the Star Build Strike!"

Kas-Al's eyes widened the camera of the Sinanju focusing in on the large mass far away.

"What a monstrous… How…"

He blinked before fending off against another few pilots that decided to take a crack at the currently injured Sinanju.

"Dammit! You insects! I don't have time for this!" he growled as he redrew his second beam rifle to dual wield the ranged weapons to shoot down the swarming foes.

Then he saw a glimpse of the Zaku toss a 'cracker' grenade and send the Star Build Strike crashing to the ground.

"MY LIEGE! SEI-DONO!"

Like a crimson comet, the Sinanju burst toward the Zaku, the orbiting shields latching onto the back thrusters, leaving crimson streams of light through the air, broken gunpla left behind in its wake.

End

AN2: Like I said above, watch my Youtube video of my custom gunpla and Kas-Al Biaggi's Third machine! Check it out on my profile page. Like and subscribe! Share with friends!


	10. A New Concern

AN - Hit a thousand views on such a surprisingly small fanfiction community! Do leave reviews though, it helps the feels. And did you all notice that in the second episode's intro to GBF, when it shows Sei after finishing the Build Strike and wiping his cheek, episode 2 is the only one when the paint doesn't smudge his cheek?

And that episode 25!

I don't know about you guys, but I cried.

Begin

"My liege!" Kas-Al sniped the second 'cracker' grenade from a distance, having chewed through five more gunpla to be able to help Reiji and Sei.

"We're ok! How about- what happened to your leg, Kas?!"

Kas-Al shot down another trio of missiles with the help of Maoh and Fellini.

"Jeez, we can't leave you kids alone, can we?" the Italian Dandy laughed. "I swear you're almost more trouble than you're worth, but I have a favor to cash in."

"Stay out of my way!" Reiji told Fellini, half-jokingly, laughing as the older man gave an indignant squawk of "Who do you think I am?!"

"Well, aren't I building up a lot of favors today." Mao grinned cheekily as he dodged an irritated shot from Kas-Al, "Hey! That's cold, Kas-Al-han!"

"Let's make small talk after we shoot down this monstrosity!" the knight barked.

"We can worry about the small stuff later." Reiji nodded, "Focus on the head!"

"Yes, my liege!"

Fellini grinned.

"A combination attack!"

Powerful beams of red, pink, green, and yellow buried into the large plastic head, the plastic superheating as it began to twist and warp as it glowed red hot with heat before finally exploding with a big bang, smoke coming from the collar of the machine as it stumbled back dropping the gun.

The giant gunpla quickly rebooted and began slowly reaching for a third cracker.

"Damn it all! Reiji! Use _that_!"

"Alright!"

The Star Build Strike's clear red began to glow as a red version of the Universe Gate appeared behind it, the bottom portion of the Absorb Shield extending and becoming a fuel tank for the Star Beam Rifle. The rifle's quasi scope extended becoming a full launcher rifle as the shield began pouring Plavsky Particles into the rifle.

"Dammit, it's really slow from the damage we took earlier!" Reiji growled as he tried to make the system move faster, "And we can't just exit out of the middle!"

The first loader light on the rifle began to glow as the Mega Size Zaku tossed twp crackers forward.

"Like hell you are!" Fellini roared the Fenice pulled forth its beam mantle, Mao supporting him from behind with the shield buster rifle in defensive mode.

"I won't let you lay another finger on my liege!" Kas-Al roared forming a barrier with his orbiting shields to intercept the second cracker.

They burst with a terrible and inky smoke, sending the three flying as they crashed into the ground, the Sinanju taking the least damage due to its full coverage, but it had lost footing after hitting dirt due to the lacking foot.

The Zaku II let off three more missiles as the pod reloaded and Kas-Al fired, shots missing widely as the Sinanju had neither gotten back up properly and was thrown aside by the kickback and lack of proper footing. The Sinanju Armoire then revealed that it had a beam cannon now stored inside its helmet that was added onto the original eye cam, barely taking one of the three missiles out, the other two headed for the two on the ground.

"Dammit!" Kas-Al roared before suddenly a metal katana flew through the air, piercing and sending the remaining two missiles off course before exploding.

The ones on the ground turned to see a metallic red and white gunpla far away on the peak of a ginormous tree.

"Thats the Sengoku Astray, the American representative Nils Neilson's original gunpla." Fellini said, he did not gasp, men do not gasp, "But why?"

Nils opened up a chat with the four.

"Don't let your guard down! It's not over yet!"

"What?" Mao stared in horror as the Zaku II drew the bazooka it had been storing on its back skirt, "You're kidding me!"

The second loading light flashed.

"Hurry up!" Reiji urged his gunpla with worry. "We can't lose to this thing here!"

The Sinanju burst forward, barrier forming as it crashed into the bazooka, the first round firing aimlessly into the distance and, unknowingly to the group, landing in a three way melee fight and destroying the gunpla there. A ball of orange-gold light the Sinanju quickly turned about and crashed into the back of the Mega Size Zaku's right knee as it readjusted its aim, making the leg buckle.

However a flare of green light struck the ground at the feet of the Zaku II, cracking the ground open and sending the Zaku stumbling.

The third light flashed as the Zaku's fall pinned the Sinanju under the machine.

"Kas-Al! Get out of there!" Sei called out in concern "We don't have too much time before we fire! Move!"

"I'm stuck! Just fire! I'll survive!"

"Are you crazy, Kas-Al-han?! Reiji and Sei are intent on destroying that thing! Even if you survive the attack the explosion after will kill your gunpla!"

"I'm taking that risk! I can survive it! DO IT!"

"ALRIGHT! Don't come crying to me if you can't survive this!" The redhead roared as the red Universe Gate stars spun forward before gathering and reforming the Universe Gate, this time the tips of the stars connected and a Plavsky field in the center.

"TAKE THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSS!" he cried out, a powerful red beam blast shooting into the Universe Gate, which both boosted the power as well as scattered the beam which fell like vengeful apocalyptic fire down upon the Mega Size.

Kas-Al grit his teeth as he overclocked the shield generators, the mechanism straining and sending multiple alarms of impending system failures as the barrier failed to keep the heat out as well as it could, making it feel like a never-ending atmospheric entry gone wrong.

The paint crackled as the plastic began to heat up in all the wrong ways, warping and bending from slowly from gravity's pull.

The following explosion sent the Sinanju flying, luckily far outside the blast radius and into the air. Kas-Al pulled every ounce of skill he had to keep the machine steady with the melted and messed up frame and thrusters, some of which sputtered sparks more than flame.

The fuel tanks had to be ejected as they exploded quickly afterwards, barely having held together from the heat and pressure.

"...I forgot about the tanks. I could have really been annihilated there." Kas-Al muttered as he slowly set his machine down, vents cooling the machine as quickly as it could.

"Are you ok, Kas-Al?!" Sei burst in worriedly on the comm screen as the knight smiled thinly.

"As well as I can be. Your Star Build Strike is formidable indeed."

It seemed even with grasping the pinnacle of speed, the Star Build Strike had also a very faint grasp into the realization of infinity, which was the pinnacle that Kas-Al focused upon.

He had to hand it to Sei, the boy was a genius, even if he lacked a fighter's instinct and ability.

"It's not that impressive," he blushed. Sei would always be a sucker for compliments.

The announcer, however was going wild.

"Did you see that, folks?! Destroyed! Annihilated! Pulverized! With the vengeance of an angry and vengeful god, the Star Build Strike rained hot, flaming death on the Mega Size Zaku! The huge mountain of a gunpla has been laid to rest and the Sinanju Armoire survived the onslaught that took it down! AMAZING! A MIRACLE! That Sinanju might as well be called Sinanju Armor, because that is one tough gunpla! Although the thrusters are damaged and it lost the fuel tanks, it still moves just fine and both those floating shields and rifles look like they're in more than serviceable shape! Those are two fine examples of world class gunpla!"

The giant battle system rang out with an electronic bell.

"Oh and it looks like we're out of time! The death toll has been met and let us look at the charts! A total of seven gunpla took out five or more other fighters and only four of them survived the daring test! Presenting Aila Jykiainen, the Untouchable Queen, with a whopping fourteen kills! Presenting Luang Dallara, the Hades Beetle, with twelve kills! And Kas-Al Biaggi, the Red Phantom of Zeon, with fifteen kills, just barely edging out the girl that defeated Carlos, Kaiser, the former world champion! That much offensive capability with the ability to withstand the Star Build Strike's ridiculously powerful charged rifle shot? This is an HG that can go toe to toe with a Mega Size! It's a shame that he didn't show us the overwhelming awe of the Stormslayer Susanowo, but we definitely have seen some of the top contenders that will go on to the World Tournament Finals! Give all these winners a round of applause!"

Kas-Al sighed, picking up his Sinanju.

"I thought that the Ezen Berevn damaging me was surprising, but to think that I would actually feel the full offensive power of the Star Build Strike…"

He could feel his pupils dilate again as he did his best to keep a blood thirsty grin from reaching his face, covering his mouth with his palm as he failed to do so.

He wanted to fight Reiji and Sei. So badly.

He could hardly breathe!

Kas-Al adjusted himself as a concerned Fellini walked by him.

"That was a pretty big beating you took, kid. Will you be ok?"

Kas-Al put on his best poker face as he shrugged.

"I could say the same to you, drunkard. However, I have rebuilt the Susanowo and my final and most powerful gunpla simply needs a test run. You need not worry about me."

Fellini shook his head as he ruffled the teen's hair, much to Kas-Al's annoyance.

"You're really an uncute kid, ya know?"

"I'm seventeen."

"What?! Seriously? You're shorter than Sei, though."

"Do you want to be my Jotun's test dummy?" Kas-Al's eye twitched angrily.

Fellini backed off with a chuckle before walking away.

Jotun.

"Frost giants? Isn't that Norse mythology? Huh… I'm frightened at that angry kid's power, but I'm still excited to see what it can do."

Kas-Al glared at the man walking away before calming himself with a few breaths.

He grinned as he saw a familiar face pull on a green hoodie as he walked away, the metallic red patterns rippling as he moved.

"Hatsuchi-dono!"

The awkward boy turned about with a startled sound.

"Ah. Kas-Al-san. I'm thankful for the fight earlier. Sorry for taking the Sinanju's foot, oh! If you want it back, it's-"

"No need." Kas-Al cut him off. "It is the trophy that you have won, I simply wished to inform you that I look forward to battling with you again."

"Ah! Yes! As do I! Thank you! I mean, eh, uh, yeah! I'm really looking forward to it!" the pilot of the Eb9 grinned happily.

Kas-Al nodded as the other Japanese representative walked away.

He was rather awkward, wasn't he?

Good man, though. Good man.

Suddenly an arm slung over his shoulder from behind and Kas-Al instinctively flipped the the person over his head and finding it to be Reiji, who lashed back with a kick. The shorter teen grabbed the leg from the opposing side, flipping the redhead again to land him right side up, the young prince readjusting his sunglasses.

"That was my bad." Reiji laughed, "Forgot that you did that for a sec."

"Lying is a bad habit, my liege. You're simply looking for an excuse to waste that adrenaline of yours. What would the queen say?"

"Dude, my old lady would kick both our asses. Don't even joke about that."

They shared a laugh as Mao and Sei blinked at the duo from a bit of a distance, as well as some odd audience members.

"Did they just…"

"You get used to it, Mao-kun."

"I'm a little uncomfortable to the thought of getting used to that, Sei-han."

"I know. I'm in that stage right now. That's just the way they are."

The four teens quickly walked off to grab to repair their gunpla together for a bit before grabbing dinner. The others had gotten a glimpse of the Jotun FX, however and tried to grill Kas-Al for information about it, but he had been rather tight lipped about it.

It was the very first Gundam that the knight had built and was a mixture between the AGE-3 Fortress, having its arms, legs and back waist skirt thrusters, while keeping the AGE FX's upper body, front and side skirts. The C Funnels were a slightly different shade of green if seen by a trained eye and and the solid non-clear purple was painted a metallic light blue for the smaller eight C-Funnels, while the larger six retained the deep purple. The Fortress legs and thrusters were originally intended only for hover capabilities, however the builders saw that they had been modified and beefed up to have extreme thrust and flight capabilities that would require a lot of skill to steer appropriately. The Sigmaxiss Cannons on the forearms appeared to have been greatly modified as well as the Stung rifle with the Daidal Bazooka attachment.

However this was a lot more colorful than all of Kas-Al's previous gunpla, having the large ankle armor painted in the same metallic light blue as well as metallic green which was also used on the clear plastic portions. The torso showed a metallic purple with a silver wear along with the shoulders and the outer arm guards.

For a frost giant or Jotun, it was predominantly red.

Reiji had asked, after finding what Jotun meant from the younger builders, if Kas-Al had named it Jotun simply because he had wanted to be taller.

He had received a bloody nose as a response.

Sei ended up deciding to skip dinner, however, after realizing that the arm connectors of his Star Build Strike had become loose and that his hip connector had cracked from one of the Mega Size's cracker grenades.

He had asked Reiji to pick up something from the convenience store when he would leave for snacks later that night.

Kas-Al accompanied his liege as he did so.

"So this is a 'convenie'? There is quite the selection of goods here." Kas-Al marveled as he looked about. "No Arian store could compare to this."

"Isn't it awesome? And look they have half the store for all these snacks and drinks!" Reiji grinned happily, "Oh! This is that soda stuff! Whoaaaa there's a lot of different flavors and types! Man, I love this world!"

Kas-Al grabbed a box of chocolates as he glanced at it curiously.

"Chocolate… mushrooms? What in the world?"

"Ah, Monsieur Biaggi. Fancy seeing you here."

Kas-Al turned around to see the French Representative, Louise Beauvais, as she carried a plastic shopping basket filled with japanese goods of all kinds from candy, snacks, drinks, as well as bento meals and other such packaged meals.

"Ah, Beauvais-dono, was it? A pleasure. What are you doing here?"

Louise Beauvais was a young girl of fifteen years of age with long golden hair that reached to the back of her knees. Having being introduced to Gunpla Battle by her older brother at a young age, she had found herself becoming interested in a great variety of japanese culture and interests and before she knew it, she was a 'japanophile' of great levels.

"Ah! I was simply shopping for some snacks and food. I haven't yet eaten all of today, Monsieur Biaggi. I've found myself to be quite famished. I was, ah! That box! Oh, no, it's the last one…"

Kas-Al handed the box to the girl without batting an eye.

"Here. I was simply curious as to what it was more than anything."

"Ah, thank you, monsieur! I do love the Meiji Chocolate mushrooms! They're so good that I can't help but to snack on them without stopping. The summer is when I splurge on eating, you see, with the World Tournament and all. These are hard to come by in France."

"Do these only sell in Japan?"

"Well, not if you go to an Asian supermarket, I guess, however it's predominantly sold in Japan and other asian countries, yes."

"Ah. Interesting…"

"I had something to ask you, Monsieur Biaggi. Your name, it's not Japanese, is it? How is it that you came to become one of the Japanese representatives?"

"My liege and I happened to take residency in Japan recently. We both got into gunpla and so we entered the regional qualifiers. Although I also live in the Kanto region, there was a loophole that allowed me to take the Chubu qualifiers with the help of a sponsor. So here we are."

"Your liege?..." the girl asked curiously as the two walked over to check out their purchases, "What do you mean, your liege?"

"It means exactly what I said. I serve House Asuna and it is my specific position to look after Reiji and guard him from those that wish him harm."

She blinked, long lashes fluttering in confusion.

"Oh. Uhm, is the son of some large corporation or something?"

"Something like that, I suppose. I'm not allowed to talk too much about it."

"Is that so? Well that sounds-" she was interrupted by a large clanging sound from outside. "What in heaven's name?"

She jumped in fright as Kas-Al dropped everything to dash out the door of the convenience store to find Reiji blocking an aluminum baseball bat with his metal wristband.

One of the two delinquents behind the one wielding the bat turned to see Kas-Al as he glared furiously.

"Huh? What're you lookin' at? Run back to mommy, little bra-"

A flying armored knee struck him in the face as Kas-Al launched him into the third thug.

"Kas-Al!" Reiji roared, "I don't care about the others, but this one's mine! Don't interfere! This is an order!"

"...As you wish, my liege." The knight nodded as he turned to the two getting off the ground, "You shameless curs! To encroach upon my liege like the scum you are… LET ME SHOW YOU YOUR PLACE!"

"What do you think you are you chibi-" Once again he was met with a flying knee kick, this time finished off by a stomp kick to the family jewels as Kas-All springboarded back into place.

"Chou! You little bas-"

Kas-Al stopped him as he shot forward with a full body spear-lunge to the throat, sending the third thug wheezing and gasping for breath as he reeled backwards, stumbling over the curb and into a parked car.

"You fools seem to not realize how badly outclassed you are…" Kas-Al cracked his neck ominously as a dark aura seemed to drop behind him, "How about I teach you what a true fight feels like?"

"Oi. I'm already done with this one." Reiji called out at Kas-Al as the thug with the back was now unconscious on the ground, his red and white jacket torn up.

Kas-Al disabled the two remaining thugs at once with a spinning jump scissor kick.

"As am I. How's your wrist, my liege?"

"What's going on here? What happened?!" Louise walked out of the shop with a full bag, having purchased her items as quickly as she could.

"These alley rats dared attempt to bring harm upon my liege. We simply showed them our justice. Show me your wrist, my liege."

"It's alright, don't worry." the redhead brushed him off with a slightly strained face and had to look away when the shorter teen got in his face.

Kas-Al growled before gripping Reiji's right forearm firmly, pulling it forward as the prince hissed in pain.

"...You popped this out of place." Kas-Al sighed before grabbing Reiji's hand with his other hand and twisting the joint back into place as the prince roared in pain.

"What the hell was that for?!"

"Have I thought you nothing?! When you are unarmed redirect the attack! Does that wristguard look like it can hold against a club?! A blade perhaps, but you're such a bothersome fool. You could have also lunged in for the wrist and disabled him easily!"

"This girl was right behind me, the hell was I supposed to do, disarm him and let it smack her in the face as I did so?"

Kas-Al pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation.

"Regardless, you're too reckless. I worry about you, my liege. It is my duty to protect you, but you always find yourself in these situations."

"Ano… will he be ok?" a silver haired girl asked worriedly, dressed in pale lavender and silvery-grey.

"My idiot liege will be fine. However, he will not be fit to fight tomorrow. Sei-dono will be furious."

Reiji winced at the thought as he looked away.

"He doesn't have to know. I'll ice it and go easy on it."

Kas-Al gripped the sides of his face as he made the prince stare into his angry eyes.

"Kas! You're starting to have the same aura as my old lady!"

"Good, because your mother would kill you. Be glad for my mercy. Isn't Sei-dono your partner? At least have the proper respect for him."

Louise blushed as she conversation went on, fantasies from her small collection of yaoi doujins going wild in her brain.

"Even though as his vassal he'd be the uke, Kas-Al is definitely the seme!" she muttered furiously as she began quietly fantasizing about all the different scenarios the two must go through in their daily day to day lives.

"Reiji."

"Fine! I'll make sure to tell him, ok?"

Kas-Al sighed.

It was probably the best he was going to get.

"Alright." he pulled out a small jar from inside his coat pocket, "Here's some herbal salve. Apply it to the wrist and wrap tightly with bandages before sleeping. That should help some. Make sure your wrist is straight when you wrap it, however."

"Awesome! I remember this stuff! We used to use it all the time as kids!"

"I have had little need of it, but on the other hand you've still required it from time to time. So you're still a child then, my liege?"

"Oi, that's not what I meant and you know it."

Kas-Al rolled his eyes.

He turned to the silver haired girl, apologizing for his charge's rashness.

She shook it off, seemingly a bit confused and overwhelmed at everything that was going on.

The Arians quickly left, saying goodnight to the confused and worried silver haired girl and leaving the blond french teen to her fantasies

They arrived back at the fighter's village to give Sei the bad news, trying to placate him with food, but the blue haired boy was furious at Reiji's recklessness, while thanking Kas-Al for setting the wrist back in and giving him something to help it heal.

The knight left as Sei began chewing the red head out for recklessness when they needed to be at top efficiency for the world tournament.

Kas-Al had seen a series of code flashes from a flashlight from the window and sighed.

"I'm not sure if it's a good thing that we're quickly adapting to this world's technology, or becoming too affected by it." he sighed as he met Lilianne who had been working the flashlight, "Sure they're better versions of most of the things we own, but I'm afraid that we'll cause the surrounding countries to get antsy. I can already imagine their response to us having guns…"

"Well, thy shalt have to worry about it later, milord. We have a… situation…"

"If the princesses walked in on the king and queen during their bedtime revelries, I am not explaining what they saw."

"No! Though that could would be worse. It's almost happened a few times, after all. However, it's… different."

Kas-Al raised a brow at the blonde.

"Different how?"

"Someone appeared through one of the Fay Tears. From what we can tell she's from Earth… however, not _this_ Earth."

The Knight-Captain blinked in confusion.

"...What the hell are you talking about? We've tested the Fay Tears. The only divergent path that it forms leads to Japan of Earth."

"It… might be better for thee to see for yourself."

Kas-Al sighed spreading his hand over open air, feeling the leylines of energy that flowed within the natural existence of the world itself feeling out past the odd blankness within the depth of it all that was Japan, reaching back to where it was strongest, where all the Fay Tears but the one trapped in Japan was located.

To Arian.

In a flash of red and silver, Kas-Al and Lilianne appeared in the treasure room of Arian, greeted by two other, lesser, knights of the Royal Guard. Though Lilianne wasn't a member of the Royal-Guard and was simply a Knight-Lieutenant of the Ranger-Knights, they bowed to her as well in respect of the young Knight-Captain.

In the Arian Knights, ability was everything.

The treasure room was hidden behind a great tapestry in a hallway where no wind could possibly enter and the whole hallway was lined with meters upon meters of artfully woven cloth depicting the story of the kingdom of Arian.

Leaving the hallway was difficult as it was a small maze of curved hallways and numerous staircases designed to confuse thieves and trap them in places that either dispensed them to the dungeons or caught them in rope nets that were heavily weighted down and near impossible to cut.

Reiji had gotten into quite a few interesting situations as a child through this.

There was actually an extra hidden passageway that could only be accessed through the use of a Fay Tear which led to almost anywhere in the castle.

Of course, assuming that the Fay Tear was properly attuned to the passage system, of course.

"So where is the intruder?" Kas-Al asked Lilianne who simply quickened her pace and led the younger knight to the cell.

Arian didn't have much of an issue with criminals, and the few who were didn't really need to be taken anywhere as high security as the palace dungeons most of the time, so only three or four were full, but Arian once took part in many wars, forcing them to have a large palace dungeon for when things got bad.

Which hadn't been for many years, however it never hurts to be cautious.

"Are you some new idiot come to mess with me with that stupid cosplay theme that you're going for? Are you all some sort of idiots? What kind of an afterlife is this..."

The prisoner looked up with eyes once lit with fury and now dulled with inner turmoil and the lack of a will to live.

"A child? Hell just gets weirder and weirder, doesn't it?"

"...This is impossible… You… You're name is Nena Trinity, isn't it?"

The prisoner's eyes widened, red from tears.

"How do you know who I am, boy?"

End

AN2: DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN Yeah I'm still bringing too much 00 into this, but you know what? WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE


	11. Jotun Rises

AN: THIS SERIES IS ENDING… JK Terrible April Fools joke is terrible.

So I want to address Kas-Al's overpoweredness a bit. Yeah. I know I kind of overdid him. But if he was really in the position that I wrote him in to be a protector of the crown prince, you'd have to make him pretty freaking powerful and rather knowledgable. The biggest reason though, for why he seems so powerful is that he just doesn't know restraint.

I mean, seriously, most of his gunpla damages are self-inflicted because he always pushes it past the limits.

Hell, the Star Build Strike started doing that near the end where every Build Knuckle broke its arm and shit, because by really wanting victory, Sei and Reiji had to push their limits. Though its standard performance isn't anything to sneeze at, if they didn't overload the amount of Plavsky Particles in the Build Knuckles, they'd have lost in a good number of their fights.

Man, that RG system gets me all sorts of titillated, man. So sexy.

Kas-Al's shtick is that he operates without giving a damn about limits, so he becomes really powerful, but he just wrecks his gunpla constantly in return.

I think you noticed that bit though.

If he fought conservatively, aka normally like all the other good little gunpla pilots, I'd say he'd rank pretty high combat-wise, but his flight patterns would be easy to read even with his ridiculous speed, as though he's a warrior, he hasn't been piloting nearly as long as the other contenders.

I mean, even Reiji has more piloting experience. He fought Fellini 200 times alone training to fight Yuuki Tatsuya. If you think about it, as far as flying and space maneuvering goes, everybody else has more experience. Kas-Al is just crafty. And ruthless.

A whole lotta ruthless. When fighting of course.

You all know that other than his desire to fight, he's actually a ridiculous softy.

For those with the over-powered concerns I have good and bad news.

Good news first, because I should: the third gunpla was made the legit way, without Fay Tear molding and alterations, so its base performance actually isn't on the same level as the Susanowo or the Sinanju, though it is indeed comparable. Its armaments are plenty strong, if not stronger, especially with the C-Funnels, but its harder to handle. High speed and power, lower maneuverability.

BAD NEWS because I like to write what I want :P - The Burst Mode might make you piss your pants. Oh wait, let me correct that: Burst Modes. Plural. Have fun waiting for that, lols.

Deal with it, I guess lols

Oh on the note of bad news - I won't be able to make the Stormslayer for a while T_T

I have to wait forever for the parts, and I got a look at the parts - most aren't all too compatible and I'm a newb. I make no guarantees anymore.

It makes me sad though :X

I really want to build it.

Begin

"Are you feeling better now, Trinity-san?"

"...Stop fucking playing mind games with me… Is this my punishment? Just give it to me straight."

"Like I said-"

"FUCK WHAT YOU SAID!"

Nena was still dressed in the pilot suit of the Innovators when she had appeared in Arian and wasn't originally given a change of clothing, as the guard had thought her a thief or intruder. Kas-Al had offered her a change of clothes, but the shell-shocked redhead refused, regardless of the fact that there were bloody tears in her torso and back that had split the suit into a navel baring top and low hip riding pants.

The skin was, however, unblemished and decidedly paler than the rest of her body, as if the skin had recently grown back.

Kas-Al didn't struggle as she began to strangle him, rather just holding air inside his lungs and limiting his oxygen use.

"What kind of shit do you expect me to believe, that I'm some made up character in a TV show?! I died! I lived! I'm not fiction, you little brat!"

Kas-Al gripped the wrists, pressing his thumbs firmly into pressure points and pulling her hands away. Though both were trained to be able to handle hand to hand combat, Nena was weak from her somehow not death, but Kas-Al was not and he pried her angry, scratching hands away.

"Of course you're not fiction. You're here. Things will be fine."

"LIKE HELL! I don't have my revenge yet! I can't be sated with this! I was going to avenge my brothers! I was… I was so damn close! Don't screw with me!"

"Breathe, Trinity-san. You're alive. We don't know quite how you survived being shot down, but you're alive. You're alive and the people who made you and ruined you are dead."

This calmed down Nena some as the girl with pinkish red hair glared at the minute knight as she slackened her reach for his throat.

Kas-Al wasn't stupid enough to let go.

"...What about the one who killed me?"

He paused, swallowing.

"She's alive, isn't she? That little bitch." her golden eyes glowed with fury and her breathing thinned again.

"Breathe. You're still weakened. She was used, just like you. It's over now."

Her eyes flashed as she stared into Kas-Al's eyes, face nearing his.

"If I'm supposed to let it end here? I have nothing left."

"...You're alive. Isn't that enough?"

"...It's a start… I'm still not convinced that this isn't the afterlife."

Kas-Al reached into his coat and pulled out his Susanowo.

"Does this look similar to anything you know?"

"...Shit… That looks kind of like an Ahead… I recognize the head though… That's the one that Setsuna's gundam started fighting… dammit."

Kas-Al could finally let go of her wrists as she flopped backwards tiredly.

He had called for thick blankets and sheets to be brought into the cell and had the others leave, much to Lilianne's heated complaints, but Kas-Al had shut her down.

Nena covered her eyes with her arm, sighing again.

Everything that she had worked for ended in failure and even after having been created in a test-tube to fight for people that she didn't care for or a cause she didn't believe in, she was killed and thrown away.

Now a small child was telling her that the world she lived in was created by some nerd with too much time on his hands and she was slated to die from the beginning and that nothing that she had intended to do would have mattered in the end as she wasn't the protagonist.

It was too ridiculous to even laugh at anymore.

"So? What country am I in? I got caught by people in metal, western armor and I'm talking to a kid wearing some of the same stuff. We're all still speaking Japanese, so this is getting more and more confusing."

"...That's the thing. We know of Earth and we've discovered it. This isn't Earth. To be honest, our planet does not have an official name. You're in the Kingdom of Arian. Congratulations on being the first Earthling to step into another planet."

Nena bolted up as she stared in shock at the small teen.

"...You're not lying again, are you?"

Kas-Al got up, patted his knees off and unlocked the cell door.

"Follow me then. The proof's in the sky. Take your blanket with you. Arian is a bit more conservative than I have observed Earth to be."

Nena picked up a blanket and wrapped it around her frame, following her captor as he led her through the castle, waving down the same guards that had captured her earlier. Although the other guards had made a move, Kas-Al had waved them down and they backed up reluctantly. Still, to Nena it was more than obvious that they were ready to hunt her down at the first movement of running or resistance, so she followed without complaint.

She was unarmed and not at peak condition.

She wasn't stupid.

But she was hungry.

She couldn't help flushing, feeling both embarrassment and irritation as her small guard called for some food for her as her stomach called out for sustenance.

But what she saw outside was the end for her disbelief.

"...That's…"

The sky was awash with billions of stars and lights that twinkled and sparkled, a huge moon visible with a ring of ice and rock orbiting it in a light ring.

"Beautiful, isn't it? We call it the Mother Star. You would call it the moon. However, as intriguing as your world is, I prefer our night skies. There's nothing quite like seeing the night lit up by natural lights."

"Fine. I'll believe you. I can't do anything to not believe you."

Nena crumpled softly to her knees, before falling backwards into the golden flowers and grass that was in the castle courtyard.

"So what now?" she finished as she turned to Kas-Al.

He shrugged.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?!"

"What do you want to do? If you wish I can let you see the original Earth. It shall be different from how you remember it. However, we have no reason to lock you up. I do suppose that there might be issues with identity… hmm… well we can figure out something then."

"...That's it? I'm just free? I don't have to do anything?"

"I don't see why you would. Although it is the Fay Tear Ariktel that saved you, that was of its own design. We were not the ones that summoned you here. Though this does mean that you are not dead as you should have been, aside from your mental instability-"

"Are you calling me crazy, you little brat?" she growled as she got up from the flowerbed.

"I'm seventeen. In Arian I've been an adult for four years now, almost five. And yes. If by crazy, I'm calling you a sociopath with little regard for human life, then yes. Yes I am."

Nena blinked at the brutal honest as well as the shocking announcement of his age.

"It's refreshing how stupidly blunt you are, but I can't believe that you're seventeen. I'm crazy, not stupid."

"No, apparently you're stupid, too. I'm seventeen. I have no reason to lie to you about my age. I've been the only one telling you anything since you've been here and I've only told you the truth. Calm down and enjoy the sky. You're food is almost here, Trinity-san. You can think about what you want after a meal. It probably won't be more than bread, cheese, and fruit. It's late after all."

A basket of food was brought with a still rather fresh loaf of bread, some tasty aged cheese, and a handful of cubic berries that tasted like banana milk.

Though she tried not to, she ended up scarfing down the food hungrily, especially relishing the strange fruit.

Nena still was a little doubtful of the boy's age, but decided to believe him anyways. He hadn't lied to her yet, to her knowledge, but she wasn't trusting enough to not be ready for betrayal at any time.

Her time with the Innovators and Liu Mei had taught her that much.

Though it seemed that Kas-Al knew and understood that.

Knowing that there were entire populations that knew about her and what kind of person she was didn't sit right with her, but at least only a few knew that she was flesh and blood.

"So you're saying that even though you know that I'm unstable you'll just let me go?"

"Something like that. We'd have to have your word that you won't reveal anything that we request you not to about the castle. Security reasons. Of course if you wish to stay in Arian, should you cause trouble, I will track you down personally. As the Knight-Captain of the fifth corps of the Royal Guard, I will take responsability for you should my decision appear to be a blunder. Of course if you wish to live on Earth, you would be outside my jurisdiction, but I would endeavor to do the same."

Oblivious to the redhead's shock, he continued.

"If you wish to find a peaceful existence, until you find the ability to sustain a proper living, I will help you. Should you choose otherwise, I could help you find something of relevance."

"Has anyone told you that you're too kind?"

"Yes. You could call me crazy as well."

Nena laughed.

It wasn't brief and it wasn't simply out of amusement.

At once it seemed that all her worries suddenly blanked from her mind as he laughed so hard that tears streamed from her eyes and her newly reformed ribs began to hurt.

It really wasn't that funny, but Nena had been under a lot of stress recently, when she had appeared in Arian, she was also underfed and was for some reason suffering malnourishment, this coupled with the fact that she was indeed a little crazy…

Well, even the level-headed Kas-Al found himself a little unnerved.

"Alright. Whatever. I still want to see Earth though. And this Gunpla Battle that seems to be the big thing around. Do they have a kit for my Throne Drei? I might as well as make it in homage for my actual Gundam… It's really going to be weird not sitting in a cockpit though."

"They do. I'll take you in the morning then. I'm currently taking part in the World Tournament with my liege, the crown prince of Arian, Aria von Reiji Asuna. Why don't you watch and unwind? At the very least, you can see mobile suits bash into each other."

The redhead grinned viciously as she giggled at the thought.

"I'll have to take you up on that. But first things first, I need some new clothes… and your fangirl over there to stop glaring knives into my skull. That girl needs to cool her jets. I'm not really into shoutas."

Lilianne seemingly melted out of the ground as her exceptional stealth training had hidden her presence in a nearby patch of grass that was a bit thicker than rest of the field.

"How did thee know I was there?"

Nena smirked.

"Other than your jealousy?"

The blonde knight bristled angrily.

"I'm not an Innovator, but I'm something close. I could sense you by your thoughts. You Arians that are more in tune with quantum brain waves have pretty obvious signatures. I almost didn't feel you at all with… huh. You didn't tell me your name, cutie." Nena smirked, getting a rise out of Lilianne by flirting with Kas-Al.

"Kas-Al. You may abbreviate it however you wish. You won't like my given surname, however, so I shall not share it with you."

Golden eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"If that's the case I'd rather know now than later. I might not be able to hold back from killing you."

"...Biaggi. Kas-Al Biaggi."

"You have the same last name as that man's other identity. Tsk. Could be worse. You look nothing like him, so I can forget that if I try. Who is this blonde puppy of yours anyways?"

"I am no dog, cur. I am Lilianne Savenne, Ranger-Knight of the third Rangers Platoon and-"

"My former squire. She's just naturally protective."

Lilianne pouted at Kas-Al about his constant casual reference to her as his old squire.

Obviously if she took it in stride he'd have stopped a long time ago, but he still enjoyed getting a rise out of her.

After some more small talk and bickering between the girls, more dominated by the sarcastic and sadistic Nena Trinity, they turned in for the night. Kas-Al offered the girl the guest room assigned to him when he had a guest over by the Knight Quarters. Because the Fay Tear Ariktel brought her to Arian, he felt that Arian had a responsibility to watch over her.

Especially because she was a bit of a nut case.

Kas-Al woke to cuddling from the side.

"...Why are you in my bed, Trinity-san?"

"Shut up. You're beds warmer and you're the perfect size to use as a body pillow. Enjoy it, stud."

"Your slurred and tired words don't convince me. Make another crack about my size and you'll regret it, Trinity-san."

"Chibi."

She found herself on the cold floor, rubbing her stomach and her rear.

"I wasn't lying." he smirked as he got up and dodged a swipe from the redhead who hopped into his sheets to savor the lingering warmth.

He quickly got changed and convinced the former anime character to get out of bed and do the same. She had to put on some Arian clothing, but although she griped about having to wear a dress, it fit her well.

For security purposes he had to blindfold her and carry her to the treasure room so that he could transport her back to Earth so that he wouldn't miss his match.

Nena enjoyed the experience as she was surprised that the small teen could carry her without his heart-rate increasing or arms shaking. Also Lilianne was there for her to pick fun at. Just because she couldn't see didn't mean that she couldn't tell the expressions of jealousy and irritation just waving off the young woman.

Once he arrived back at the Fighter's Village, Kas-Al found he had little time left before the match announcements and assignments began, so he quickly rushed away, telling Lilianne to take Nena shopping for clothes of her choice, handing the two a wad of cash as well as two VIP seat tickets given to every contender in the World Tournament.

He hoped that they wouldn't kill each other.

"Thank you for waiting! We will now begin the third period of the World Tournament! We're a quarter of the way into it folks! I'm everybody's favorite gunpla idol, Kirara! Kiraran!" the television in the waiting rooms called out harmoniously as Kas-Al burst into the room.

"Yo, you're late. What happened Kas?" Reiji asked.

"I had something to take care of. Don't mind me."

"Melinda-san was looking for you last night, Kas-Al-kun." Sei told the teen, "She seemed a little miffed she couldn't find you."

"I'll talk to Melinda-sama later. Did I miss anything important?"

Maoh smiled from his seat.

"Not yet, Kas-Al-han. Just pay attention to the screen."

Kirara had waited for cheering to subside some before continuing.

"The third period is an Original Weapon Battle! Using only the weapons decided by a lottery system, contestants will fight one on one battles!~ Isn't this exciting?! That's 58 matches for you to enjoy! The drawn weapons will be placed in containers set up on the battlefield, know that you can't attack unless you find your weapon and fighting back without a weapon can be pretty difficult! Also, we won't know what the weapons are until the containers are opened. You're not allowed to bring any shield, rifle, funnel, bits, or any other sort of weapon onto the battlefield. If it's an integrated part, it can't be helped, but if you use it, you will be disqualified!"

She smiled as the crowd cheered again, relishing in the excitement.

"What a bother." Kas-Al muttered.

This meant that his Jotun was going to be under-armored because he had to remove his C-Funnels.

Well this just meant that he could hold more cards up his sleeves.

"This match requires fighters to have the skill to instantly understand the weapon and how to control it. This is a battle of instincts! I hope you're feeling up to it, fighters! Now all fighters leave the waiting room and head for the stage!~ Kiraran!"

Kas-Al shuffled out with his friends as he yawned.

Nena was a grabby little sleeper.

"That verbal cue card of hers gets more and more irritating as I hear it."

"It's not that bad." Sei defended, "People seem to think it's cute."

"I just don't get it."

"It helps that she's hot." Fellini grinned wolfishly before Kas-Al smacked his back.

"Down you sexual deviant."

"Oi! I'm not a deviant! I simply have the proper appreciation for the female form. There's nothing wrong with that."

"You're still as hormonal as a teenage boy."

"You are a teenage boy, you uncute brat."

Kas-Al shrugged it off as they neared the stage.

The tournament assistants quickly got people lined up in the order that they wanted and the lot drawing began.

There a lottery-slot machine set up with a twist handle reel that would set the Haro halves on the slot screen spinning before a number would flash.

Fellini drew 23.

Looking all smug as if he had accomplished something amazing for some unknown reason as well.

Kas-Al took a little interest at the American representative for two reasons.

The first was that he had seen a clip of the Sengoku Astray in action, and it wasn't anything to sneeze at. The second was that Fellini seemed a bit wary of him and that was a pretty good cue for danger, even if the man was a terrible social drunk.

The 'Samurai Boy' drew 47.

Mao drew lucky number 7 and he struck a martial arts pose with a grin.

Aila Jyrkiainen of Finland was soon after, drawing everyone's attention with number 16.

Mostly nobody wanted the 15th number.

The number 1 lot was drawn by Meijin Kawaguchi.

More shameless subtle advertisement by PPSE, Kas-Al was sure.

But now he wanted both 2 and 15.

He was disappointed.

"Now Japan's 4th Block Representative! Kas-Al Biaggi!"

The knight twisted the roulette handle, sending the numbers spinning.

"Weapon number 18!"

He clicked his tongue in disappointment. He was just three away from one of his desired lots.

It was irritating to be so close, yet completely off from something he wanted.

When Sei and Reiji came up, the prince stepped back to let Sei do it.

"His wrist must still be resting." Kas-Al laughed as Sei gave Reiji a look of resignation as he sighed and rolled the slots.

They got 44.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." Sei muttered pitifully as Kas-Al pat his back reassuringly.

"This means that our opponent is... him. The Thai representative. Luang Dallara." Sei looked up to the tanned asian man with wild hair pulled back with a small rat tail.

Reiji's eyes narrowed as he stared at the man in his red and black tracksuit.

"...Wait a sec... that guy's the one who found the absorb shield's weakness!"

The older asian took notice of the duo and approached them with cheer, complimenting their skill and building ability, taking note of Kas-Al as well, but not saying anything about the quiet teen who simply watched passively.

A finger lightly tapped Kas-Al's shoulder, causing the teen to turn around.

An older gentleman with a kindly face smiled at him as he readjusted his glasses.

"Hello, young man. I'm number 17. It seems as if I'll be your next opponent."

He held out his hand to shake, which was marked with small calluses and scars from hobby modeling as well as gunpla piloting.

Though he was small, Kas-Al had surprisingly large hands and feet, and it fit snugly as they shook with polite smiles.

"I'm the British representative, John Ayers McKenzie. How do you do?"

"I'm doing fine, sir. I am Kas-Al Biaggi. A pleasure."

The old were always more experienced and more crafty, so Kas-Al knew better than to underestimate the man. Especially since he had only lived to see this day because he never showed mercy to his opponents.

He didn't plan on doing so here.

They were the ninth match, so they didn't have to wait long to fight. However the only truly fast matches were the first with the Meijin, the fourth with Mao, and the eighth with Aila.

"Ninth match between the oldest representative in the World Tournament! John Ayers McKenzie, The End, from Britain versus the upcoming upstart, Kas-Al Biaggi of Japan's 4th Block! The Red Phantom of Zeon! Let's start the battle!"

The smaller battle machines that circled the main stage lit up as the ninth match began.

"Beginning Plavsky particle dispersal. Please set your GP Base. Field 5: City. Please set your Gunpla."

A replica of the city-colony of Heliopolis appeared as the center of the stage revealed the location of where the first Gundams of the Seed universe were stolen by the soldiers of Zaft, two containers lain around the wreckage of a Strike.

"Alternate universe setting? Interesting."

The Jotun FX was set down missing its C-Funnels, Daidal Bazooka, as well as the forearm mounted Sigmaxiss Cannons.

"Jotun FX. Kas-Al Biaggi. For the glory of House Asuna!"

"Paladin Zeta. John Ayers McKenzie. Headed out!"

The two shot forward in a no nonsense manner before stopping before their respective crates.

The Paladin Zeta was of an original design, slimmed down for further streamlining as well as reinforced and ornate decals reflecting a design inspiration from the Knight Gundam, actually taking some parts from the limited edition full gundam version gunpla to form it, as seen by the shoulders and legs being from the Knight Gundam itself, modified to still allow the Zeta's transformation, but had the addition of extra powerful thrusters for flight.

"Are you sure you'll be fine fighting me with that AGE model? Without your C-Funnels, your armor is really lessened. Especially for that front skirt and side skirts of yours." the old gentleman laughed jovially.

"It is no problem."

The two reached down to pop their containers open and drew their weapons.

The crowd was shocked.

"Hoh? You might be in for a spot of trouble, Biaggi-kun."

In crate 17 was the twin Heat Shotels, the signature weapons of the Gundam Sandrock.

"My other gunpla is actually a modified and original Sandrock, so I know how to use these."

The weapons in crate 18 were the two folding Armor Schneider of the destroyed Strike Gundam that was scattered over the road.

Kas-Al's Jotun flicked them out as the small switchblade-like close combat weapons began vibrating, ready to rend armor.

"I'll suffice." he responded but couldn't help grit his teeth in irritation.

"This might be one of the most unfortunate match-ups of the third period! Heat Shotel versus Armor Schneider? This is perhaps the most unfair match-up we've seen yet and I thought that the spray gun was a bad joke!" the announcer called out as the Jotun shot forward in a blur of red, blue, and purple.

It dashed around the Zeta, dodging a diagonal swing of the shotel before throwing one of the Schneiders at the Zeta's head, grazing past its right eyecam, much to the british man's annoyance.

The Jotun flipped over the Zeta, grabbing the knife back from the building that it had embedded itself into before quickly flipping away again as a shotel grazed the lower leg armor, shearing a small portion of it off, the plastic glowing red.

"I'm not letting you get away so easily, young man!" McKenzie kicked up one of the chunks of the Strike nearby at the Jotun, which batted the broken limb away with an elbow strike adroitly dodging another two swipes as the old man struck again, almost grazing the armor around the Jotun's cockpit.

"Dammit. You have too much reach!"

The Jotun kicked the right hand of the Paladin Zeta as it swung down again, knocking its grip loose with its huge feet and sending the heat weapon flying. Unfortunately it had to duck and back step as the other arm swung twice in quick succession before snatching the weapon on it's fall back down.

"I'm not so sure you're as old as you look, McKenzie-dono."

"Ha! I'm pretty spritely for a 78 year old, aren't I?"

The two circled each other, the Jotun lashing with powerful kicks and the occasional lash of an Armor Schneider as he kept the older fighter from getting in close.

The Zeta flew into the air, suddenly, before crashing back down with twin strokes that heated the plastic of the Jotun's shoulder guards before a knee crashed into the right hand again, this time breaking two of the Paladin Zeta's fingers as the huge thrusters in the Jotun's feet spun it around in a blur, knocking the weapon away and into the ground, the incredibly hot weapon causing the ground to turn red with heat.

In retaliation the Zeta swung again, before turning back half-way into the swing, hooking the Jotun's wrist, only to meet resistance. Kas-Al had turned the blade around into a reverse grip and used the slight moment of resistance to get the Jotun's hand to safety.

The Jotun snaked in with the other arm, grabbing firmly before kicking outwards at the Zeta, pulling the arm straight out of the socket joint. While the Jotun pried the Heat Shotel safely from the arm, the Zeta burst back to draw the blade in the ground.

John Ayers McKenzie was surprised to see the teen toss his arm back to him with no intent on taking advantage of the situation.

"Oh, how kind of you. I hope you're not looking down on me because I'm old."

"Not at all. From your abilities I can tell that you're not used to long combat, but rather guerilla tactics. Probably a sniper with quick powerful bursts of melee combat. I simply wish for such a confrontation. I was at too much of a disadvantage without one of your blades."

McKenzie laughed.

"Well, this old man will have to teach you a thing or two about ending combat quickly then, won't I?"

Reconnecting the arm with a small flash of sparks and electricity, the two fighters held the shotel in their hands and walked slowly towards each other as the crowd watched in hushed silence.

Kas-Al took a diagonal raised sword stance, ready to cut downwards at a moment's notice, but he couldn't help feel a bit awkward, as he had never handled such a weapon before.

McKenzie on the other hand had the sword ready in a stance reminiscent of Japanese iado.

As they approached striking distance, the Jotun's thrusters immediately hit maximum thrust capacity as it bolted forward, seemingly into the blade of the Paladin Zeta, only for it to reveal that its torso vents could double as thrusters, pushing the torso of the gunpla back before righting itself and turning to swing the blade.

McKenzie grunted as he brought up his shotel up to block to find that by twisting the scimitar-like blade the tip began cutting into the Zeta's collar armor.

When the British man tried to twist backwards and cut into the Jotun's arms by thrusting the blade sideways, the Jotun's left arm shot forward, showing the folded Armor Schneider that it was hiding in its hand, cutting the left hand off at the wrist joint, leaving the Zeta with a weakened hand to hold the large melee weapon.

The Jotun kicked again, snapping a heel kick into Zeta's inside right knee, breaking the joint and stabbing again with the hyper oscillating knife, which buried into the cockpit of the gunpla, ending the match.

The red gunpla backed up noting how at the last moment, the Zeta managed to snap its own blade to throw the broken blade at the Jotun's head, cutting one of the V-fins.

"That was close. Thank you for the match, McKenzie-dono."

"...You really just went all in for the kill there, didn't you, Biaggi-kun? That really was no mercy at all. Suppose I can't complain, seeing as how I tried to end the match as quickly as I did as well. Next time we should fight with full armaments. I guarantee that I'll leave you with more than those baby-scratches."

The Knight-Captain bowed respectfully.

"I would appreciate it very much."

Nena Trinity watched happily as Kas-Al brutally took down the Zeta.

She didn't care so much about the showmanship, but he still took down his enemy at pretty close to maximum capacity.

It made her itch for a good brawl as well.

She licked her lips.

She told herself to fight the urge to fight Kas-Al and wrap her hands around his neck again.

But now she wanted to other things than just strangling.

She was drawn to the strange and psychotic in the end.

Birds of a feather fly together.

End

AN2: How was that for a fight? This is what would happen of Kas-Al didn't just go all crush-mode from the get go. That and it's kind of hard when you have two tiny knives to go all curb-stomping and ass-kicking when your opponent has giant superheated scimitar-tusk swords.

I think that was a good third period so far.

I know I haven't given insight to Mashita-teme yet, but that ass-clown would realize a knight when he saw one. I mean, he was a thief, right? Giving puny knives to fight giant heat shotels would be the kind of ass-hattery that he'd try to pull, am I right?

Check out the Jotun on my Youtube Channel if you haven't already done so. I apologize for newbish camera work though. Watch my other videos too if you want and subscribe, I guess.

Any suggestions are always welcome for both.


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